Quincy among Shinobi
by dude932
Summary: Finding himself in the Elemental Nations after his mother's death, how will a young Ichigo grow in a world of Shinobi? With a strange mentor within his mind and a Snake Sannin teaching him in reality, will Ichigo grow up to protect or to destroy? Follow Ichigo as he becomes a powerful Quincy underneath the tutelage of Juha Bach, the King and a powerful Shinobi beneath a Sannin.
1. Chapter 1

**Some of you may call me a hypocrite if you had read one of my later A/N's of my late story 'The Leaf's Very own Soul Reaper.' Which has been adopted by Kami No Uzumaki. In it I stated that I'm not a fan of Naruto manga or anime. That is the truth, you're probably asking why am I coming out with a new Naruto/Bleach crossover then. This idea would not leave me alone and I don't know who would take the idea if I proposed it to them, so I guess I said fuck it I'll give it another shot. This story will be largely different then my late Naruto/Bleach crossover, you'll just have to read to find out I guess. **

The small body hit the ground with a thud, tears were running down the nine year olds cheeks. His orange hair was covered in mud and he couldn't stop his body from shaking. Rain poured down from the sky as the young boy tried to push himself up from the mud with his arms only for them to give way and for him to splash down into the mud with an audible splat. Raising his head he looked around, even with the rain he should have been able to hear the river, but he couldn't looking around he couldn't recognise anything. The river was no where in sight, the body of his mother was gone. Opening his mouth he let out a whimper, trying to call for his mother, even if he knew it was a hopeless endeavour she was gone and it was his fault.

The monster took her away from him.

"Mum..." He whimpered as he laid in the mud, a puddle of dirty water starting to form around him.

"_Never let go of this, it's a protective charm, it won't ever let you down."_ His eyes widened as he pulled his clenched hand up to his line of vision, it was the last thing his mother had given him. He had done well in Karate practice that day and she had given him a reward. Opening his fingers he spotted the bracelet, he had tried to put it on before a car splashed him with water and his mother had told him to put it on when he got home. It was a silver cross with a small ring around the centre. Closing his eyes he closed his fingers around the cross and brought his fist to his forehead.

He wished everything had been a dream, that Tatsuki had knocked him out during Karate and he hadn't woken up yet, but Ichigo knew better, he may be only nine but he was smart, or at least smart enough to know between reality and a dream. Pushing himself up this time his arms supporting him he pushed himself to where he was able to stand. His yellow rain coat was muddy and his clothes underneath were drenched, his body was cold and shivering as the rain continued to pelt at the ground. Looking around he couldn't spot anything familiar to Karakura, he didn't know where he was, where the monster that had killed his mother was and he didn't know how to get back home. If he was ever lost, his Dad would always find him, he always knew where he was no matter what. Raising a hand he wiped some of the tears from his cheeks which was only replaced by droplets of water from the rain.

"_Go forward."_ A voice urged making him look around. _"Find shelter from the rain." _It urged once more, Ichigo didn't know who was talking to him but felt compelled to do as it asked, finding a place out of the rain would do him the world of good right now, he didn't want to get sick.

Walking through the trees Ichigo didn't know if he would even find shelter, to him it appeared he was in the middle of a forest somewhere. But surprisingly he found a large tree with massive branches, the grass beneath it only slightly damp from droplets having fallen from higher branches, the leaves up above to thick for the rain to fall through to the ground. Walking forward to where a small hollowed out part of the tree would stop the harsh winds from hitting him, he fell to his knees only for the ground beneath to give way as he fell into a dark tunnel beneath the tree and land several meters on the ground below.

Tears sprang to his eyes again, his right arm having received a large force of the fall making him cry out in pain as he rolled onto his back off of the arm. The ground beneath him was hard, solid almost like concrete. He looked up to see where he had fallen from, the darkness around him allowing the light from above to seem like a true light, however the clouds from outside still made the place he was in seem even more creepy. He looked around in the darkness but couldn't see anything, apart from a wall to one side.

Cradling his right arm he crawled over to the wall and sat against it, bringing his knees up to his chest. He didn't know what to do now, his body fell to one side as he began to shiver once more, the hall he was in began to howl as a cold wind blew through, closing his eyes he imagined his mother smiling at him, giving him warmth.

Ichigo's eyes grew heavy and sleep reached him just as he started to hear footsteps walking towards him. He saw a pair of blue sandals before he finally succumbed to sleep.

X-X

"Orochimaru-sama? What do you suppose we do?" Kabuto questioned as he stood next to the medical bed he had set the young orange haired boy down upon. On the other side of the bed stood the legendary Sannin, looking down into the face of the boy. He was an enigma that was for sure, having fallen into one of his hideout's, breaking his arm while doing so.

By all means he should of be alerted of the chakra signature as soon as the hideout had been breached, but there had been nothing. If Kabuto hadn't walked by the entrance they would have never known. Kabuto had even checked on the traps that were designed to go after one's chakra signatures no matter how much it was suppressed, all of them were working perfectly which even made more questions grow within the scientists mind. Everyone, no matter who you were had chakra, it was one's spiritual life force.

"Kabuto, bring me that tray over there." Orochimaru said pointing over behind the young ninja who nodded eagerly and grabbed the tray and brought it over to the bed the boy was resting on. Orochimaru pulled an empty syringe from it and rose the boys left arm up, the one that wasn't broken. Raising the syringe to his arm he stopped as he saw the boy's fist clenched. Lowering the syringe onto the table he pried the boys fingers open only to see a cross resting their.

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto questioned seeing the Sannin's questioning gaze, he pulled the cross and examined it but felt nothing from it. Placing it back on the table next to the boy he once again rose the syringe to draw blood. Once he was done he handed the syringe to Kabuto.

"Run every kind of chakra tests on this sample." Orochimaru told him. "I want details on why our traps didn't go off and how he entered undetected." Kabuto nodded and exited the room to go and do as his Lord had requested missing the small smile crossing over Orochimaru's features. _"I wonder if I can use him, seemingly lost, not a settlement for miles it's a wonder what he was doing out here in the first place."_ An even wider grin came to his face as he looked into the young boy's face. _"Yes, if all goes to plan he can become part of that team."_

X-X

His arm no longer hurt, he didn't feel the fatigue he had been experiencing not long ago, however the rain still fell, heavier then what he had experienced earlier in the forest. Opening his eyes, everything was blue, this was even weirder then before. Raising up he looked around only to notice that everything was side ways, the buildings... it was Karakura!

"I'm home?" He questioned looking around, not even caring that he was seemingly standing on the side of a building. "Why does everything look this way?" He questioned looking around, the rain continuing to pelt down from the sky. Raising his arm he shielded his face from the rain as he began to walk down the building wanting to get to the road so he could go home.

"Where are you going?" A deep voice questioned making Ichigo turn on his heel to see a man standing and looking over at him, he was a tall lean-built, and stoic middle-aged man. He has pale skin, high cheekbones, stubble, and long ragged black hair with brown highlights. His attire consists of a tattered white dress shirt with an upturned collar and cuffs, black pants, low-heeled boots, and a long, amorphous black overcoat with a burgundy highlight that flares out into ragged ends. He wears brown-tinted, semi-transparent wraparound sunglasses.

"W-Who are you?" Ichigo questioned nervously taking a step back. "I want to go home." He spoke up again before seeing the frown come to the old man's face.

"Ichigo, what do you remember about what happened to your mother?" He questioned.

"How do you know about that? How do you know who I am?" Ichigo spoke frantically. "I just want to go home." He said, his voice timid and scared, the rain around them beginning to fall heavier to the point that it was stinging as it hit skin. Tears began to fall down Ichigo's cheeks as he remembered his mother's death unnoticed in the rain. Ichigo rose his hands up to wipe the tears away but the rain just added more water to his face.

"Ichigo, you cannot go home." Ichigo stopped wiping at his eyes to stare up at the man who was looking down at him, the rain pouring over the both of them. "I'm sorry."

"What do you mean!?" Ichigo called out but felt himself being pulled away, the man appearing further and further away. "Tell me what you mean! Please! I want to go home!" The world around him began to pull away from him as he tried to run back to the old man who stood motionlessly watching. His vision began to blur with his tears before everything went black and the sheering pain of his broken right arm hit him making him cry out as his eyes shot open reaching for his arm but another hand stopped him another set kept him from thrashing about. Ichigo's eyes were wide, he didn't know where he was and there were people holding him down, he was panicking.

"Sedate him!" A woman's voice called out. "We need to get that arm treated! Orochimaru-sama won't tolerate any losses!" She called out. Ichigo saw another person to his left with a needle and he began to calm down, he was a doctor, his mother and father always told him he could trust doctors.

"Where am I?" Ichigo questioned looking around, the person's hands still on his shoulders. No one answered him as they pulled his arm to the side and injected the sedative into his system making him black out, not even that strange world appeared again.

"What's going on in here?" Kabuto questioned walking into the room after hearing the earlier commotion only to see the syringe being pulled from Ichigo's arm. "He woke up?" Kabuto asked in surprise, he was already under a pretty heavy sedative.

"Yes Kabuto-san." The female doctor told him. "We were just beginning to administer treatment to his arm before he woke up." She explained. Kabuto ran a hand over his chin as he looked back at the chart he had brought in with him. It was the boy's chakra signature, apparently he didn't have one which was supposedly impossible. Every living creature had a chakra network, even Edo Tensei re-established the chakra network within the corpse it was used upon, by rights this child shouldn't even be alive.

"_Could this be why the sedative wore off? Our medical sedatives target the chakra coils and shut down the entire body."_ Kabuto theorised as he pushed his glasses back up as he watched the doctors go about treating the broken limb of the boy. _"This boy is truly an enigma, perhaps Orochimaru-sama has an interest in him? He'd do well as a spy, perhaps reckon mission's, chakra sensors wouldn't be able to sense him at all, if I couldn't see him I wouldn't believe that he is there."_ Seeing the boy's chest rise with each breath he furrowed his eyebrows. _"And he's defiantly alive."_ Turning back for the door he stopped and looked over his shoulder at the doctors at work. "Make sure if he wakes up again, a higher dose of the sedative."

"Kabuto-san, with all due respect even the dose we just gave him could damage his chakra coils." The female doctor cautioned.

"I'm sure that it won't be a problem." The three doctors exchanged glances before nodding as Kabuto walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. He continued down to Orochimaru's chamber and stopped before glancing to a side door that was slightly cracked and smiled lightly as he pushed his glasses up. "Good evening Kimimaro." The door opened to reveal the nine year old white haired child. He wore his long white hair in a loose pony tail type fashion.

"Kabuto-san." Kimimaro greeted with a bow. "I heard a commotion."

"It's nothing to worry yourself over Kimimaro." Kabuto explained. "Keep up with your studies, Orochimaru-sama will be testing you in a few days." Kimimaro simply nodded as he turned to enter his room once more before looking down the hall to see the room Kabuto had entered and heard a child's scream before shouts from several adults. He turned back to Kabuto who was looking down at the room with a thoughtful look on his face. _"His body is adapting to the sedative quicker then I thought it would."_ Kabuto thought as he continued to head on towards Orochimaru's chamber. Stopping at the large chamber door he rose his hand up and knocked several times.

"Come in Kabuto." Orochimaru's voice came from inside, opening the large door Kabuto walked in closing the double doors behind him and walking forward with the chart in his hand outstretched as he read it over. Orochimaru back was turned to him as he looked over a map on the desk. Upon closer inspection of the map, he found that it was one of the Hidden Leaf. "You have something for me?" Orochimaru questioned.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama, the boy has no chakra network what so ever." Kabuto explained to him. "I'm uncertain how this is happening, perhaps a genetic default." He theorised. "I'd need to perform tests, perhaps find his birth parents to find out if they have any genetic disorders to be certain." He continued as he read over the charts again. "I theorise that he is eight to nine years old, his blood type is A, I have yet to have time to gain other information from him." Orochimaru nodded his head as he hummed in thought.

"Tell me Kabuto, why would a boy of his age be clutching a cross?" Orochimaru questioned turning to face the white haired young man, leaning up against the table.

"Perhaps the boy belongs to some kind of religion Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto inquired. "Or maybe it was a gift, a keepsake of soughts?" He suggested making Orochimaru hum in thought.

"The way he was clutching the cross seemed to make me believe that it was important to him." Orochimaru nodded. "It matters not, how goes his treatment?" The Sannin questioned.

"Rough Orochimaru-sama, he has awoken twice under the sedative. I instructed the doctors to give him a stronger dose but since his body does not have chakra coils our sedatives are having little to no affect on him and are only keeping him out for short periods at a time, his body seems to be adapting to the sedatives as each time grows less."

"Thank you Kabuto, who knows." Orochimaru grinned. "Perhaps we have just found the key to our victory over the Hidden Leaf."

"Orochimaru-sama, with all due respect the boy doesn't seem to be a fighter." Kabuto told him.

"We have time." Orochimaru told him. "Without chakra he will have a disadvantage, but with his unique... ability to not be found. He will be of use in the future."

"Of course Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto bowed.

X-X

Ichigo's eyes fluttered open, however this time he wasn't in pain, the last time he had awoken which he counted as the seventh the female doctor gave him a different type of sedative and he had been unconscious ever since. He rolled his head to the side and saw a glimmer of silver and reached out for the cross his mother had given him. Clutching the cross weakly in his hand he closed his eyes again feeling drowsy.

"It will wear off in time." A voice said making him open his eyes and roll his head to the other side to see a young man standing there wearing glasses with white hair that he had up in a pony tail. He also wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates on the back of the hand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a strange holster on his right leg.

"W-Who're you?" Ichigo questioned trying to sit up but not having the strength.

"My name is Kabuto Yakushi." Kabuto smiled warmly at him. "I'm just here checking over your chart."

"Are you a doctor?" Ichigo questioned as he laid his head back down and staring up at him.

"Along those lines yes." Kabuto told him. "Can I ask your name?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo replied as he watched Kabuto write the name down on the chart he had in front of him.

"Tell me Ichigo-kun, where is your home?" Kabuto questioned.

"Karakura Town." Ichigo told him before noticing the slightly confused look coming over the young man's face. "My Dad runs Karakura Clinic." Ichigo continued. "I want to go back." Kabuto frowned as he tapped his pen on the paper, not once had the young ninja ever heard of a town by the name of Karakura and he had been station in several nations. Perhaps the boy misspoke the name? "An old man said I can't go home." Ichigo said sadly. "What did he mean by that?"

"An old man?" Kabuto questioned making Ichigo nod. "When did you meet this man?"

"When I was blacked out." Ichigo watched as Kabuto began to write some more. "He said I can't go home and that he was sorry."

"Did he give you his name?" Ichigo shook his head no. "Well Ichigo-kun, I'm sorry to save but I've never heard of this Karakura Town before." Kabuto told him making Ichigo frown sadly. "You were wandering in the forest above, what were you doing out there?" Kabuto watched as Ichigo tensed up and his eyes began to tear as they lost their light. _"Something traumatic perhaps?"_ Kabuto wandered as he watched the boy begin to cry. Simply standing in the room, Kabuto watched as Ichigo stopped crying, however the light didn't come back to his eyes. Walking over to the medical bed he helped Ichigo sit up.

"Remember this Ichigo-kun, time can heal all wounds, but... if you don't have the strength to over come it, time can't heal what has happened." Ichigo simply stared at him. "Do you have the drive to become strong Ichigo-kun?" Kabuto questioned. Ichigo glanced down.

"H-How? How do I become strong." The door opened and Ichigo looked up to see Orochimaru standing there before he walked forward and offered his hand.

"All you have to do, is take my hand." Orochimaru told him as Kabuto stepped to the side. "Take my hand, and I'll help you become strong." Ichigo rose his hand and placed it in Orochimaru's much paler hand. "Come with me young one, I'll give you the strength, just fight for me is all I ask for in return."

"Ok." Ichigo nodded, Orochimaru saw the fire of determination in Ichigo's eyes and inwardly smirked.

"First we need for your arm to heal up, it should take a week with Kabuto's treatments. Kabuto take good care of him and in a week bring him to me. I'll have him meet the others." Orochimaru told the medical ninja.

"Others Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto questioned.

"The rest of the Sound Five." Orochimaru smiled. "Or as I should be calling them now, the sound Six."

"You're going ahead with that plan Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto inquired. "It's only been a few days since you brought the first four together. Kimimaro is still undergoing his own separate training and does not know that he will be involved with them in the future." Kabuto continued.

"I'll make them true fighters Kabuto, just you wait and see." Orochimaru smiled before turning back to Ichigo. "I'm sure there is something within you, some power that we can harness. All we have to do is draw it out and we can begin." With a simple nod to Kabuto Orochimaru left the room leaving the two alone.

"Orochimaru is going to be training you, I best heal you up. You're going to need all your strength. It will be hard training." Ichigo didn't reply as he looked down at the cross in his hand, it felt like it was pulsing.

X-X

"Alright, last of it is done." Kabuto leant out a small smile. "How do you feel Ichigo-kun?" He questioned the orange haired boy who was now standing, rolling his shoulder. Something Kabuto had noticed about the boy since he had awoken a week earlier was that he didn't smile, not even when someone tried to get him to smile. Not everyone under Orochimaru's rule were black hearted, some were actually very nice people who made wrong decisions in their life. Even Kabuto had to crack a smile at some of the jokes that Ichigo was told, but still he didn't budge.

"It feels better." Ichigo told him as he stretched his arm out once again, the small bracelet around his wrist drawing Kabuto's attention to it.

"Good, at least now we can get you to meet the others that you will be training with. Your training under Orochimaru-sama will begin tomorrow morning." Ichigo nodded as he followed Kabuto out of his designated room and followed him down the dark halls. They reached a large door which Kabuto opened and gestured for Ichigo to walk in, it was brightly lit, more so then other rooms he had been in during his stay here. Covering his eyes from the light he looked around and saw Orochimaru standing in the centre of the room with his hands behind his back, a small smile on his face.

"Ichigo-kun, so nice to see you. How is your arm?" The Sannin questioned.

"Better." Ichigo replied to which Orochimaru nodded.

"We're just waiting on the other four."

"Kimimaro won't be joining today?" Kabuto questioned.

"No, not for some time." Orochimaru told him. "I wish to continue his training in private." Kabuto simply nodded as the three stood in silence before a door opened on the far side of the large chamber. Walking out of the door were several children, all appearing to be around the same age as Ichigo. The first was a young boy with dark grey hair, what Ichigo found strange was they he had two heads, one of of his back and the two were identical like twins. Icihgo didn't even know how it was possible, could it have been a fake? The next was a chubby boy with orange eyes, and three tufts of orange hair on his head.

The third was a dark skinned boy with black shaggy hair and black eyes. He also had sick arms which Ichigo continued believe either, the boy even used them, one was picking his nose while another scratched his head, two others were folded in front of him while another two were set in his pockets. The last of the four was girl with red hair, that flowed down her shoulders, what showed that she was different then the other three apart from that she was female was that she was wary of everything around her. Her eyes kept darting around, mostly to make sure no one was sneaking up on her or wandering if there was anyone hiding in any shadows.

All four of them seemed to be wearing the same set of clothes, a light grey karate gi.

"You're right on time." Orochimaru smiled. The four instantly bowed to him making Ichigo glance up at Kabuto who chuckled lightly and placed his hand on the young boys shoulder.

"The two joined together." Kabuto said in a hushed tone. "Is Sakon and Ukon. The one with six arms is Kidomaru, the large boy is Jirobo while the girl is Tayuya. You'll be training with them and don't worry, they're all beginners too so you don't have much to worry about." Ichigo simply nodded once.

"I'd like for you four to meet someone, he will be joining your team and be training with you from now on." Orochimaru turned to Ichigo and gestured for him to walk up beside him to which he did. The four, or five in the case of Sakon and Ukon cast their gazes onto him. "His name is Ichigo Kurosaki, starting tomorrow I will be properly start your training." Ichigo walked over and stood beside Jirobo, the other four still looking at him. "It is up to you whether you wish to use this time or go back to your rooms. Kabuto will be looking over you. I'll see you tomorrow for your training."

"I think this would be a good time for you all to get to know one another." Kabuto told them. "So, until I say. You are to remain in here. Is that understood?" Their heads nodded making Kabuto push his glasses up as he turned to leave the room, four of them knew better then to leave while Ichigo simply looked around the training room. Weapons littered racks near a wall, their were several dummies with targets on them.

"Oi, new kid, where'd you come from?" A voice questioned making Ichigo turn to look who had called out to him. It was Kidomaru. All six hands were placed on his sides as he grinned at the orange haired boy.

"Karakura Town." Ichigo replied.

"Never heard of it." Kidomaru said. "What nation's that in?" Ichigo thought for a moment.

"Japan." The four exchanged looks never hearing of the country before. Ichigo just stood there awkwardly not knowing what to say.

"Your odd." Kidomaru told him.

"Says you who has six arms." Jirobo said as he rubbed his stomach. "Is anyone else hungry?"

"Maybe if we were as fat as you were fatty." Sakon smirked making Jirobo glare at him.

"Sakon if we were as fat as him, then we'd get no where as Shinobi." Ukon chuckled behind his brother. Ichigo simply watched as Ukon, Sakon and Jirobo started a heated argument over weight class, Kidomaru was idly talking with the girl who didn't seem to responsive most of the time but let a few response out from time to time. Ichigo felt a throbbing sensation in his head and rose his hand up his cross hanging from his bracelet hung in front of his face, his eyes never leaving it.

"_I need to speak with you Ichigo."_ The old man's voice came back to him making his eyes widen slightly. _"Find a quiet place away from the others and sit down to mediate, I'll do the rest."_ Turning on his heel he began to walk away from the four.

"Hey where are you going?" Sakon called out to him noticing him walking away. Ichigo didn't reply though as he sat in a corner his back facing the four, his legs crossed in an Indian style as he closed his eyes. Immediately he felt the pull that he had felt a week ago when he was being pulled out of the strange world, letting himself fall into the void Ichigo opened his eyes when the pull stopped and looked around to see that he was back in the odd, blue, sideways city.

"Ichigo." Ichigo turned and saw the man standing not far from him. "I'm sure you have many questions, but for now. I need you to listen to me." He told the boy as he walked closer.

"Who are you?" Ichigo questioned, the man looked at the boy before at the pendant around his wrist that was attached to his bracelet and let a small smile come to his face.

"My name is Juha Bach." He greeted with a slight bow of his head. "I am a Quincy, and I plan to make you into a powerful Quincy under my tutelage." Ichigo simply tilted his head to the side making Juha raise an eyebrow at him. "Do you have a question?" Juha questioned him.

"What's a Quincy?"

**How Ichigo was transported to the Elemental Nation's will be revealed later on, because no matter how smart a nine year old is explaining dimensional travel to one is clearly impossible. Yes this will be a Quincy Ichigo story.**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been several weeks since Ichigo had come to this strange place, and begun to train with the four kids around his own age, even if all four of them were a year younger then he was. He got over the weirdness that was Sakon, Ukon and Kidomaru and having slightly opened up to the two brothers and the six armed boy. Tayuya was still wary of him but had taken to sitting next to him during meals. Jirobo was open since the day they first met having become friendly with Ichigo. In the weeks that they had started their training, it was different from what Ichigo learnt in Karate with Tatsuki. Orochimaru didn't make them fight one another, the first thing he did was get them to exercise to get their muscles built up.

With muscle building, stamina training came shortly after, having getting them to perform feats that pushed them to their very limits. Only being children they didn't have much Stamina but still they pushed on strengthening themselves. While the four were performing chakra exercises under Orochimaru's watch Ichigo was told he could continue to train by himself, when it came to these moments he retreated to his inner world to talk to Juha within his mind. This intrigued Orochimaru, wandering why when given the chance to train he would meditate. When he found out, he wasn't disappointed.

It had been late one night and Orochimaru had finished off a successful experiment. Walking down the halls he could hear noises coming from the training grounds that his future team used, it was past midnight and someone was still training? Heading in the direction the sounds became more distinctive, he could hear Ichigo shouting in frustration before he shouted in rage at something, perhaps he was training with someone else? Walking to the door that opened into the training room he reached a hand up to open the door but something stopped him, a wave of power swept over him making him take an instinctive step back unconsciously. Everything was quiet for a moment before the entire chamber before him shook making him open the door and his eyes went wide at what he saw within.

Ichigo was standing there his left hand stretched out before him but that wasn't what shocked Orochimaru, no it was the large fluctuating power that Ichigo held in his hand. It was a massive blue glowing bow, it wasn't fully solid, it was fluctuating wildly and he could see blood running down Ichigo's arm as he held it, the power of the bow was literally ripping away skin from his hand.

"I'm trying!" Ichigo cried out. "It won't!" Orochimaru slipped into the shadow's of the room as he watched everything unfold, the bow continued to fluctuate making Ichigo scream in pain. Orochimaru didn't see anyone else in the room so he didn't know who he was talking too. After that everything happened in an instant, Ichigo reached up with his right hand and pulled an arrow seemingly from the bow itself before the arrow fluctuated wildly and exploded sending him flying across the room. Both the arrow and bow disappearing as Ichigo landed on the ground.

"I can't do it!" Ichigo cried as he punched the ground with a bloody fist. "You told me to lower it as much as I could but I can't get it any lower!" He cried out again. Orochimaru simply watched from the shadows as he looked at the boy who was seemingly having a conversation with nobody. Orochimaru turned his attention to where Ichigo had been aiming at and his eyes widened, there were several scorch marks all over the training dummies, the spot where Icihgo had been before he had been thrown by the strange explosion seemed to be the largest of the scorch marks.

"_I knew that you would be interesting Ichigo Kurosaki."_ Orochimaru thought as he watched as Ichigo passed out on the ground. _"A power like this... I've never seen anything like it before."_

X-Three Months Later-X

"Man this sucks!" Kidomaru whined as he climbed up out of the tunnels below into the early morning light. "How come we're the only one's moving hideouts?" He questioned folding a set of arms behind his head. "Shouldn't we all move at once?" He asked turning to Kabuto who was going through his pack.

"You just want to sleep in." Ukon said from behind his brother as Sakon climbed out from beneath the underground tunnel below. "It's a wonder you get anything done with how lazy you are." Kidomaru simply glared at the duo as Jirobo followed the two out already reaching into his pack for a bag of chips.

"Orochimaru-sama wants you ready at the new base when he arrives." Kabuto explained. "This little excursion will also test your abilities, survival skills in the wild and this will also be an evaluation of your skills so far, from here on out until we get to the new hideout I'm team leader." He continued as he stood up as Tayuya pulled herself up from the underground passage and stood up. "It will take several days for us to get to the new hideout, we're keeping off busy roads as not to draw attention to ourselves."

"Yeah like those three won't draw attention anyway." Tayuya huffed out gesturing to Kidomaru, Sakon and Ukon. "They're a bunch of freaks." She continued as she folded her arms.

"You want to say that again!" Kidomaru shouted as he rounded on her.

"That's enough." Kabuto told them as he watched Ichigo climb out from the hideout below. "We've got a busy few days ahead of us, and let's not start of arguing alright?" He smiled as he pushed his glasses up. "Now, let's get moving before the sun gets to unbearably hot." He received a huff from Tayuya who was being glared at by Kidomaru. Sakon and Ukon not having taken offence to Tayuya's earlier jab. Tayuya was just being Tayuya.

Jirobo simply followed after Kabuto walking next to the brothers while Kidomaru headed up with Kabuto. Ichigo began to walk behind them, Tayuya falling into step beside him. In the months that had passed Tayuya had reasoned that Ichigo was the most relatively normal person of their group with her being the first of course, Kidomaru had six arms, the brothers were inside one another, which just creeped her the hell out and Jirobo... well Jirobo was fat, enough said.

"What is it?" Tayuya questioned making Ichigo glance towards her to see her staring at his left wrist with his Quincy cross. "Even since I can remember you've had that thing around your wrist. So what is it?" Ichigo rose his hand up so he could look at the bracelet, Tayuya reaching out and gripping his arm and pulling it in front of her face so she could get a better look at it.

"It was a gift." Ichigo told her pulling his wrist from her grasp. "It's important to me." He told her as they continued to walk.

"Who from?" Tayuya questioned making Ichigo glance back at her, this was the first time that they had actually had a proper conversation. Neither really spoke to one another, Tayuya thought he was normal but that only reasoned that she didn't want to hang out with the others, it's not like they were exactly on talking terms like Ichigo was with the other members of the group.

"I don't want to talk about it." Ichigo told her.

"Fine be a jerk." She mumbled under her breath as they continued to walk in silence. This was the first time since Ichigo had fallen into Orochimaru's hideout that he had been on the outside again, having spent the months training beneath the ground, he found that it was peaceful to be able to take in the fresh air again.

"_Reishi fills the air here."_ Juha's voice reached him from the depths of his mind. _"More so then within the confines of the tunnels below."_ He continued.

"_Why is that?"_ Ichigo questioned.

"_Perhaps because the air here has been untouched by spiritual means. If I were to estimate you would be the first Quincy to walk this land, the reishi here is yours for the taking."_ Ichigo simply hummed in affirmative as he continued to walk.

He had started to be able to control his reiatsu properly now, since his first time when he tried to use his spiritual pressure where it had all but killed him, even Juha wasn't expecting such power within the young Quincy. The phantom of the Quincy King immediately sought to get Ichigo to control his spiritual pressure which had been a daunting task, taking over two months to accomplish. Now Ichigo could form a Quincy bow properly that wasn't unstable and was in the early steps of learning the **Hirenkyaku**.

Ichigo was sure that Orochimaru knew about his late night training sessions, Juha having sensed the Sannin on numerous occasions watching from the shadows, however nothing had been said to him about it, Juha reasoned that Orochimaru was intrigued with Ichigo's power and wanted to learn more before approaching him. Ichigo himself didn't know what to make of the Sannin, some feared him while other's like Kabuto respected the man greatly. Ichigo still didn't know what to think, he never spoke to Orochimaru on a personal level and he didn't want his opinion of the man made from other's assumptions so he decided to hold of on his opinion of the Sannin until he knew more about him.

Looking to his left he saw Tayuya with an irritated look on her face, she was clearly not impressed about not talking to someone for the trip, she wasn't that much of a talkative person but it was better then remaining silent the entire time, she had stayed back to try and at least form a conversation with the orange haired boy but he hadn't been very talkative.

"My mother gave it to me." Ichigo said making her eyes widen as she turned and looked up at him to see he was looking ahead once more. "It's why it's precious to me." He continued. "She told me it was a protective charm." Ichigo explained playing with the bracelet slightly, the eight year old red haired girl simply stared at him silently not really knowing what to say in return as they continued to walk. Only remembering her mother slightly she didn't know how to approach the subject with him.

"Does it work? The charm I mean." She queered making Ichigo glance at her from the corner of his eye.

"Yes." He nodded as a small smile graced his face. "It protects me plenty." Tayuya simply nodded as they continued to walk after the four ahead before they saw Kabuto raise his hand up gesturing for them to stop. A simple hand gesture made the five children jump into the bushes as Kabuto did the same, having prepared strategy several times with one another seemed to be working in their favour.

Hearing voices everyone stiffened slightly, if things went south this would be their first true encounter with an enemy and not simply sparring with one another. When the cart came into view Kabuto signaled to stand down but to remain in place, it was just a civilian convoy, nothing to get worked up over. When the convoy long passed Kabuto signaled for them to start moving again without another word, the five began to follow him.

Upon entering a suitable camp site they bunkered down for the night, Kabuto setting up a small fire to cook on while the rest simply set down their bedrolls. Not much was said among the team as they went about their own duties, the only two that were talking with one another were Sakon and Ukon. Kidomaru was sharpening kunai while Jirobo was looking around in his pack to eat. Ichigo glanced up from where he was sitting on his bedroll to see Tayuya giving disgusted looks to the others.

With a grunt of annoyance she turned and walked over to where Ichigo had set his bedroll up and rolled out hers not three feet from his own. As she flattened it out she placed her pack down on top and laid down using her pack as her pillow. Ichigo simply shrugged as he crossed his legs and closed his eyes, retreating into his inner world.

"There is only so much you can learn in your mind before needing to test it for yourself within your true body." Ichigo opened his eyes to see the familiar sight of Juha, the old man had become the only link to what he knew, he spoke of his mother and how she was a Quincy and wished for Ichigo to embrace his heritage at some point. However one thing still wasn't clear to Ichigo, it was how he had ended up here, Juha had informed him that he wasn't in the same world as the one he was born in but hadn't progressed on how he had gotten here.

"I know, you've told me before." Ichigo nodded in agreement as he folded his hands behind his head and looked over the blue city.

"_A look a boy his age should never of had."_ Juha thought to himself as he saw the thoughtful look come to Ichigo's face. "The progress with your team, it seems slow." Ichigo looked over at him before nodding in agreement.

"I have no idea how we're going to work as a team." Ichigo told him.

"Especially if you're still holding your powers back from them." Juha added making Ichigo nod in agreement. "Still, do not trust this Orochimaru blindly." Ichigo nodded once more as he continued to look over the town. "I've told you before Ichigo..."

"I know." Ichigo said lowering his gaze. "I can't go back, but this was still my home." He added as he looked around to Juha. "I'll never forget it." Juha simply nodded.

"Get some rest, the next few days of travelling are sure to be taxing on all of you." Ichigo nodded as he slowly began to disappear from his inner world. Juha frowned as he watched the spot he had disappeared from before turning and walking off into the city. Nine years... and the beast within Ichigo that had been transferred from his mother was beginning to stir, Juha mused that it was because of Ichigo starting to control his own Reiatsu.

X-X

"Are we there yet four eyes!" Tayuya shouted from where she was walking beside Ichigo at the rear of their little group.

"Not long now Tayuya-chan." Kabuto waved back making the red head grit her teeth, she hated how Kabuto was so familiar with all of them. "Maybe an hour or so, but we're in the Land of Fire now so we best be careful." Tayuya simply folded her arms as they continued to walk.

"Where is the Land of Fire?" Ichigo questioned quietly, if Tayuya had thought it over she probably would of seen that he was talking to himself.

"What are you stupid or something?" She questioned making him look at her. "Right... you're from some other place huh, what'd you call it?" She questioned once more.

"Japan." Ichigo told her.

"Right." She said as she pulled her pack from her back and opened it as she continued to walk shoving a hand inside and rummaging around within before grinning as she pulled out a sheet of paper. "Well, I'm about to give you a little lesson in geographics." She grinned at him.

"It's Geography Tayuya-chan." Kabuto chuckled lightly as Tayuya puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, she was eight! She was entitled to get big words like that wrong from time to time, she wasn't a genius! She pulled her pack, back onto her back and opened the sheet of paper to reveal a large map to Ichigo who looked it over, taking one side that Tayuya offered him. Raising her hand up she pointed to a large continent on the map.

"That right there is the Land of Fire." She explained to him before trailing her finger up to a small continent above it. "That's the Land of Rice, where we have been for the last couple of months." Ichigo nodded in understanding. "So... four eyes when did we cross the border?"

"Not long ago, maybe an hour or two." Kabuto called back to her making her nod. _"We were lucky to pass by without incident, from what I hear the Fourth Hokage is starting to real crack down on border patrols. Orochimaru-sama cautioned me to be wary of the border."_ Kabuto thought to himself.

"That's the Hidden Village of the Fire Nation, Konoha, the five largest continent's have Hidden Villages." Tayuya explained to him as she saw how intrigued he was in the map from the corner of her eye, making her smile somewhat. "Unlike the smaller towns those villages are run under military laws... that's right isn't it four eyes?"

"Yes Tayuya-chan, the five ninja villages are run by a Kage, a powerful ninja in their own right." Kabuto explained. "Their main forces are ninjas, there are civilians within those villages as well however." He continued. "The Hidden Village rules over the continent that they reside in, so Konoha would rule over the Land of Fire."

"What he said." Tayuya told the orange haired boy. "The Kage that rules over Konoha is the Hokage."

"Minato Namikaze." Kabuto told them. "The Fourth Hokage to be exact, a powerful man he was a prodigy so they say. He's the youngest to ever become a Kage." Ichigo nodded as Tayuya rolled the map back up and placed it in her pack.

"If you want..." She trailed off. "I'll teach you some more stuff." She told him. "I mean we're going to be working together from now on, so we should at least try to get along."

"Yeah that's a great idea!" Jirobo smiled back at them.

"Shut it fatty!" Tayuya yelled. "Nobody asked you or your four chins!"

"I think that was a little uncalled for." Kidomaru said looking over his shoulder to see Jirobo on the verge of tears. "He only has two chins." He grinned as Sakon and Ukon burst into laughter as Jirobo simply huffed and put away his packet of chips as he began to sulk only causing the brothers next to him to pat him on the back and to continue to laugh. Tayuya simply huffed as she folded her arms as she continued to walk beside Ichigo.

"I think it would be a good idea Tayuya-san." Ichigo told her making her eyes widen slightly, never hearing her name come from his mouth before. She looked up at him to see that he had a somewhat caring look in his usual hard eyes. The caring eyes seemed to fit his child features a lot more then his hardened eyes did.

"Just Tayuya." She mumbled as she turned away. "It's just Tayuya." Ichigo nodded as she let a small smile grace her face. She hadn't set on making friends with her team, but at least now she would have someone to talk to that wasn't a total creep.

"Heads up everyone, we're coming to the hideout." Kabuto called out to them.

X-Five Years Later-X

With a huff Ichigo walked down the dimly lit hall closing the door behind him in the last few years he had grown considerably taller. At fourteen he was 5'4'' and was still growing, his orange hair was spikier then when he was younger and his face had lost the majority of the baby fat leaving him with a handsome face. While his body was lean he was muscular after years of training with the rest of his team and Orochimaru.

His attire consisted mostly of white material with the addition of blue, he wore white trousers, blue and white trench boots the design almost seemingly making a cross. He also wore a white, double-breasted trench coat with shoulder straps and a white, button-down bib. The coat was bound at the waist with a black belt, which is further adorned with a decorative buckle and a hood that Ichigo mostly kept down over his back. **(A/N, If you're looking for a picture description, I tried to model it after ****IFrAgMenTIx**** Ichigo Quincy picture, on Devinatart.)**

Over his hip's were a separate belt that simply rested there, across the back were five metal rods with finger width hooks in the end. Juha had shown Ichigo how to create such tools which would make his Quincy powers all that more useful. Across his left thigh beneath the coat he wore was a pouch with other Quincy tools that Juha had shown him how to create and use, it took time to learn the craft to make such tools but Juha said that it was worth it and Ichigo had to agree with him. Hanging from his left wrist was the same Quincy cross that his mother had given him so long ago.

Ichigo would be lying if he said it was his choice of clothing since Juha told him that this was what he use to wear long ago and suggested it to him. Ichigo didn't mind wearing such clothes, covering his torso beneath the coat was a metal mesh armoured shirt for protection. He found that, even if it did look like some kind of uniform it was easy to manoeuvre in and didn't obstruct in his fighting so it was fine in his books.

Walking down the halls Ichigo was clearly annoyed, and that was at one Kabuto Yakushi. The medical ninja didn't do anything wrong by any means, it was just that he refused to remove the -kun suffix from his name. Ichigo and Kabuto had been dealing with this situation for the last couple of years and Kabuto had been relentless about not giving it up, Ichigo knew it was just to piss him off, he was sure of it.

Simply setting his face into a scowl and setting his thoughts aside a door in front of him slammed open before the fiery thirteen year old red head that was Tayuya, marched out before turning around and screaming to the occupants within.

"Yeah! Well you can go fuck yourself six ways to Sunday with a god damn monkey! You cunt nuts stay the hell away from me!" She roared kicking the door shut while breathing heavy after her rant, her face flushed from her anger. She steadied her breathing as she righted herself and turned down the hall only to see Ichigo standing there with a lop sided smirk on his face.

"Again?" Ichigo questioned making Tayuya glare at him. "I take that as a yes."

"Take it anyway you like, it's fucking disgusting is what it is!" Tayuya snapped at him making him shake his head in amusement. Tayuya had grown over the last five years, although not as tall as Ichigo and she still held distinct feminine features. Her red hair had grown long and became untamed. She wore a tan tunic, much like the other members of their team, with black shorts and standard black shinobi sandals.

"I don't give a fuck how horny those fucking creeps are, they do not have to use my underwear! It's fucking sick, perverted and just plain fucking wrong!" Ichigo simply chuckled lightly as the duo began to walk down the halls. "You just come from four eye's office?"

"How'd you know?" Ichigo questioned glancing down at her seeing her shrug.

"Lucky guess." She mumbled. "How'd it go."

"As you'd expect." Ichigo replied. "Nothing to serious like the last time." He explained to which she nodded. Last time he had been admitted into the infirmary was after a mission a year ago, he had broken four ribs one which had punctured his lung, if it hadn't been for Tayuya's slight medical ninjutsu she had learnt from Kabuto he wouldn't have made it, or that was what everyone thought, nobody expected him to make it even after they had gotten him to Kabuto, so when he was fine again after three days they were shocked.

"Where are you going now?" She questioned.

"Showers."

"God I could use one." She shuddered. "It was fucking fat ass again! Next time I see that fat cunt I'll gut him for sure!" Ichigo just shook his head, Tayuya had begun to swear like a sailor not long after the duo had become friends so long ago, having spent a month with a Genjutsu trainer she came back with quite the mouth on her. The two simply walked into the shower room, neither caring as both stripped from their clothes and walked into separate stalls that were right next to one another. Turning their showers on they both sighed as the hot water hit them.

"Fuck that feels good." Tayuya mumbled as she leaned on the top of the stall with a pleasant look on her face, the stall only being about chest height. Turning her head to the side she cast a side glance at Ichigo who was standing beneath the running water.

It wasn't odd for them to shower together, nor was it odd for the team to shower together even if Tayuya hated those times threatening to remove a part of the male anatomy if anyone even dared look in her direction. She threatened that every time that they had team showers, however never when the duo showered alone.

She'd never admit it, but for over a year now she had started to get a crush on the orange haired teen, she didn't think it was to bad that was until the dreams started of course, sometimes she couldn't look him in the eye. She hated her teenage hormones at times.

"So what's the plan?" Tayuya questioned as she watched as Ichigo looked over his shoulder at her.

"Plan?" Ichigo asked as he gathered soap on his hands and begun to lather himself up. "Plan for what?"

"The rest of the day." She huffed in annoyance. "Training? Relaxing? Killing a fat prick on behalf of one of your closest friends?" She grinned at him making him chuckle lightly.

"Your underwear your problem, he starts using mine and I'll kill him myself." Tayuya burst out laughing at that. "Kabuto said I should take it easy for at least a day so I'll probably go find a tree topside and relax for the afternoon." Tayuya nodded as she closed her eyes letting the water run down her face as she backed under the shower. Raising her hands up she ran them over her face before down her hair and let out a satisfactory sigh.

"Hand me the shampoo will you." She said holding a hand out to which Ichigo handed her the bottle. "Thanks." She said as she began to wash her hair. When Tayuya finished washing her hair she rinsed it out and let it flow down over her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Ichigo once again standing beneath the water, she grinned to herself as she reached over and turned off the hot water. She immediately saw Ichigo's body stiffen before he slid from beneath the shower head and glared at her.

"This is what I get for handing you the shampoo? Ungrateful bitch." Ichigo mumbled.

"You know you love it." She grinned as she turned her shower head off and grabbed a towel that was over the stall and began to dry herself off, Ichigo doing the same. Walking out of their stalls with towels wrapped around themselves they walked back over to where their clothes were and began to get dressed. When Ichigo was dressed Tayuya had to look him over, he looked good in that uniform he had started to wear two years ago.

"Hey." Ichigo rose his head up and glanced at her. "That uniform, you said it was apart of your heritage or something like that right?" The red head questioned.

"Yeah, something or rather." He nodded. "Whys that?"

"Well, I reckon it doesn't look half bad." She said. "Where can I get one?" She smirked making Ichigo smile and shake his head as he placed his foot up on the bench and began to do up his boot.

"Now why would you want a uniform like me?" He questioned. "I didn't think it was that fashionable."

"Who cares about fucking fashion." Tayuya told him. "You don't seem bother by it when fighting, it doesn't look like it gets in the way. I don't know... it looks professional I guess you could put it." She said tapping her chin. "Better then what Orochimaru-sama gets the rest of us to fucking wear." She mumbled gesturing to the tunic she was wearing. "I look like a god damn idiot dressed in this."

"Well, how about next time we're out on a mission we'll see if we can find you something like it?" He questioned. "Unless you have a knack for knitting that I'm just not aware of." He laughed as she slugged him in the arm.

"That was some sought of jab at me wasn't it ya prick?" She growled.

"Oh no Tayuya-sama, not at all." Ichigo mocked.

"Tayuya-sama huh? I like the sound of that. From this day forth you can continue to call me that." She declared with a grin.

"Like hell." Ichigo laughed before the door behind them opened and both looked over their shoulders, their eyes widening slightly as they saw Kimimaro standing there. "Kimimaro, how's it going?" Ichigo questioned as he rose his hand up in greeting, Tayuya remaining quiet. Both Ichigo and Kimimaro got along fine with one another, however Tayuya and the rest of the team didn't.

"Orochimaru-sama has a mission for your team." Kimimaro told them. "He asked me to come retrieve you as soon as possib-!" Kimimaro's body lurched as he began to cough violently, raising his hand up to his mouth. Ichigo was instantly at his side, Kimimaro was a dear friend to him, the two having grown close over the years. Ichigo knew he was sick but didn't know what from, Kabuto Orochimaru and Kimimaro himself refused to tell him. As Kimimaro pulled his hand back from his mouth Ichigo could see traces of blood and frowned.

"You alright?" Kimimaro nodded as he steadied himself up. "We'll go right away, go see Kabuto. Maybe he can help you with the pain."

"Alright." Kimimaro nodded and headed off out the door. Ichigo glanced back at Tayuya who had remained quiet while Kimimaro had been there.

"Let's go see what our mission is." Tayuya simply nodded and followed Ichigo out of the shower room.


	3. Chapter 3

**As you can probably guess from the last chapter, this is an alternate Naruto verse.**

"This better not be another one of your schemes Ero-sennin." A girls voice sounded out. "Because if it is and I miss Naruto-kun's birthday, I'ma hurt you." She growled as the man laughed heartedly. "I'm not joking old man!"

"Calm down Naruko-chan, I wouldn't dream of it." Jiraiya laughed. "I told you we'd be back in plenty of time for his birthday."Jiraiya continued as they walked down the path. Jiraiya is a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil'.

He also had a noticeable wart on the left side of his nose. He wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armour that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a large scroll on his back.

"So what are we doing out here anyway?" Naruko asked with a frown, she was dressed in a blue skirt with black shorts beneath it, blue shinobi sandals on her feet while wearing a sleeveless orange jacket with a mesh long sleeved shirt beneath it, her long blonde hair pulled up into two pigtails the reached down to her hips. Her Konoha headband was wrapped loosely around her neck.

"Well my dear apprentice!" Jiraiya declared before Naruko turned around.

"I'm going home." She sighed.

"Wait! You haven't even heard what I was going to say!" Jiraiya cried.

"I'm a Chunnin now, I have responsibilities to deal with." Naruko told him. "I can't just up and leave when ever you want me too any more." She said looking over her shoulder. "I'll see you back at the village."

"I've already cleared it with Minato." Jiraiya told her making her stop walking. "Your Dad agrees that you could use some time away from the village. You've been running yourself into the ground these past few months. The kid is handling himself fine in the academy, your mother assures me. Nobody's bullying him, the teachers are doing their jobs and he even has your father teaching him a few things from time to time when he can. You need to stop worrying so much. It's not your fault."

"I'm his older sister!" She snapped at him. "I should have been the one to take the Kyuubi not him! It's my job to protect him!"

"Naruko you were to old, your chakra coils had been developed already, the seal they used wouldn't have worked on you. You were two when Naruto was born, there was nothing you could of done." Jiraiya told her. "You know this." Naruko looked down at the ground with a frown on her face, knowing Jiraiya's words were true. "I know you have dedicated everything to protecting your family, but there are some things even you can't change Naruko."

"It just sucks." She said kicking the dirt. "Some people don't look at him like they should, some flat out ignore him. It's not right, if they just took the time to get to know him, they'd change their minds for sure." Jiraiya simply walked forward and patted her on the shoulder.

"Naruko, compared to others, Naruto has had a good life." Jiraiya told her. "He has a family, he's starting to make friends in the academy. He can smile everyday." Jiraiya frowned. "Other's in his position aren't as lucky." Naruko nodded her head. "Now, will you still come with me? It's just a short trip, I've got to pick up some stuff from a contact from mine. We'll be back in time for the brat's birthday." Naruko smiled and nodded her head.

"Yeah, sure... but if we don't make it in time I'm telling Mum about all the research you've been doing while in the Village." Jiraiya paled but nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright that's fine." Jiraiya nodded. "Deal?"

"Deal."

"FUCK OFF! THAT WAS THE SHITTIEST IDEA EVER! FUCK YOU FATTY!" Both Jiraiya and Naruko's head shot up to the shout only to see a red head run from the trees and stumble slightly before face planting in the dirt of the road. "I FUCKING BLAME THAT ON YOU TOO!" She roared.

"Tayuya you tripped on a branch, that was your own fault." Another voice said.

"Fuck you!" Tayuya yelled at Ichigo who walked out of the trees simply wiping leaves from his shoulders as Tayuya pushed herself up from the ground.. "It's all his fucking fault."

"I thought it was the shortcut." Jirobo said walking from the brush of trees.

"Since when can you even read a fucking map!" Tayuya snapped at the large boy who was walking out of the trees. "Why are you even here!?"

"Sakon, Ukon and Kidomaru were getting..." Jirobo looked up as he spotted Jiraiya and Naruko not far from them simply staring at his present company and himself. Ichigo and Tayuya looked in the direction Jirobo was looking at to see the two standing on the road.

"The fuck are you looking at!?" Tayuya shouted at them before Ichigo smacked her in the back of the head. "Fuck off! The hell was that for!?"

"Calm down, no need to get pissed over nothing." Ichigo told her.

"This fucker led us into a bear cave! With bears inside!" Tayuya shouted at him.

"I said I was sorry." Jirobo whined as Tayuya punched him, Ichigo simply sighed as the red head raged throwing even more insults at the large orange haired teen who tried to calm her down. Ichigo looked back to the two down the road and rose his hand up in greeting.

"Yo, sorry about this." He said making Jiraiya laugh as he walked up to him.

"Not a problem, it's actually quite amusing." Jiraiya told him. "Where do you and your friends hail from?"

"East of here." Ichigo told him. "A small town not far from here." Jiraiya nodded as he looked over Ichigo's attire. "You?"

"Konoha." Naruko told him with a smile, Ichigo noticing the headband wrapped around her neck. "See, I'm a ninja, this guy classes as one as well but he's just a pervert." She shrugged.

"Just a pervert!?" Jiraiya shouted in shock. "Naruko-chan! You hurt me with your insult! I'm not just a pervert!" He exclaimed. "I'm a super pervert!" Ichigo sweat dropped.

"Oh here we go." Naruko mumbled to herself with a slight groan.

"I'm the one the very only! The master of the secret arts! The toad hermit of Mount Myoboku! The one the ladies stare at in awe as I pass by! The super ninja! The very one and only! Jiraiya of the Sannin! Legendary Pervert of the land!"

"... so yeah, then we just kind of wound up in a bear cave and just ran on from there and Tayuya got pissed because she kept hitting branches" Ichigo said as Naruko nodded in understanding, Ichigo having explained why Tayuya was beating the crap out of Jirobo. "Plus, Tayuya's got a chip on her shoulder with him for... reason's I'd rather not say." He explained.

"Did you guys just ignore me!?" Jiraiya cried out.

"How about you guys?" Ichigo questioned.

"We're on our way... somewhere, I don't even know." Naruko shrugged folding her hands behind her head. "Jiraiya here has got to pick up some stuff or something." She shrugged once more. Ichigo simply nodded as he turned back to Jiraiya who was weeping on the ground at being ignored.

"Oi! We going or what! We got shit to do!" Tayuya called out to Ichigo making him look over to her who was standing atop of Jirobo making Ichigo sweat drop slightly as Jirobo groaned beneath her.

"Well I best be off." Ichigo said holding his hand out. "It was nice to meet you..."

"Naruko, Naruko Namikaze." Ichigo smiled lightly as she took his hand.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Her eyes went wide as he turned her hand up and rose it to his lips making her blush slightly. "An honour to meet Hokage-sama's daughter." He smiled at her making her face heat up even more before both of their hands were pulled away from one another as Jiraiya pulled them apart making Naruko growl at him.

"Alright smooth guy, how about we keep this G rated." Jiraiya told him seeing a slight trace of a flicker of blue light on Naruko's hand from where Ichigo had kissed her. He leaned in and elbowed Ichigo in the side. "You got some moves kid, but I'm pretty sure the Hokage's daughter is a bit much."

"It always pays to be polite to a woman." Ichigo told her. "My mother always taught me that."

"Oi!" Tayuya shouted gripping the back of Ichigo's hooded coat. "Let's fucking move!" She growled pulling Ichigo along the path back where Jiraiya and Naruko had come from Jirobo following after them. Naruko simply waved at Ichigo as he was dragged away and blushed when Ichigo gave her a simple wave back.

"Girls." Jiraiya sighed as he placed his arm on her shoulder. "Am I right?"

"You're an idiot." Naruko blushed and walked off.

"Hey it's not my fault your crush is already off the market." Jiraiya pouted as he walked after her.

"I don't have a crush!" Naruko exclaimed as her cheeks heated up once more.

"Oh wait until your mother hears about this!" Jiraiya squealed like a schoolgirl with the newest piece of gossip.

"No! Don't tell her! Anyone but her!" Naruko squealed.

"Now who has some dirt on the other Naruko-chan?" Naruko simply pouted as she trudged after Jiraiya, but couldn't help but let a small smile grace her face, she could still feel the warmth of Ichigo's lips on her hand. "Make sure to wash your hand."

"Bite me!"

X-X

"The fuck was that about?" Tayuya growled beneath her breath as she continued to drag Ichigo along. "Kissing some fucking slut like that, you'd catch a disease."

"Tayuya, do you even know who those two were?" Ichigo questioned.

"A bunch of no name fuckers." Tayuya growled out. "Wannabe ninja, seriously what kind of ninja wears fucking orange?"

"What kind of ninja wears all white?" Ichigo mused.

"One that can't be detected unless they're seen!" Ichigo chuckled lightly at that. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"That was Jiraiya of the Sannin and Naruko Namikaze, daughter of the fourth Hokage." Tayuya stopped dead in her tracks, Ichigo pulling himself up to a standing position. "What Jiraiya's after is what we're after. He's going to lead us to it." Tayuya stared at him with wide eyes over her shoulder, a look of shock crossing her features.

"That was Jiraiya?" Ichigo nodded. "Fuck, how the hell are we suppose to deal with a fucking Sannin Ichigo!?" Tayuya shouted at him, Jirobo frowning as he heard the situation. "He's on the same level as Orochimaru-sama! Not even you can go toe to toe with him!"

"We're not going to deal with Jiraiya." Ichigo told her, dusting his clothes off. "Jiraiya is the kind of man to let his guard down. I don't know much about Naruko Namikaze but she won't be a problem for us." Tayuya crossed her arms as she turned to the side. "Plus, all we're stealing are some documents."

"Do you even know where the fuck they are headed?" Tayuya questioned.

"Not a clue." Ichigo smiled at her making her eye twitch. "But I know who can find them." He told her.

"Fatty sure won't, unless they've got cake."

"Hey! These fat jokes are really starting to bug me." Jirobo said.

"Yeah well fuck you!" Tayuya shouted at him. "Who do you have in mind?" She questioned turning back to Ichigo.

"Kizzy." Tayuya's eyes widened.

"Since when do you summon outside of the base?" She questioned making Ichigo shrug. "You don't even have anything to track them with."

"Wrong." Ichigo said raising his finger and her eyes widened when she saw a flicker of blue light on his finger. "When I kissed her hand I released my reiatsu onto her skin. One whiff of it and Kizzy will be able to track them down." Tayuya simply shook her head in amusement.

"And you got a girl all flustered over nothing." Tayuya told him.

"You seem more flustered then she did." Ichigo smirked making her eye twitch. Ichigo ran his hand through a set of hand signs before slamming his hand down on the ground. **"Summoning Jutsu!"** Seals spread out around Ichigo's hand before a cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared it revealed a moderately sized spotted hyena.

"Ichigo-sama." Kizzy bowed to the orange haired teen.

"How's it going Kizzy?" Ichigo questioned still at the hyena's height scratching behind the wild dogs ear. "How's your sister."

"She had seven pups Ichigo-sama, I'll let her know you asked after her." Ichigo nodded with a small smile. Raising his finger up and allowing a small portion of his reiatsu to seep out onto his finger again, the hyena watched closely as it flickered like a flame.

"I need you to track the scent of this, can you do that?" The Hyena leaned forward and sniffed at the reiatsu.

"I can Ichigo-sama." Kizzy nodded. Ichigo lowered his hand and Kizzy sniffed around before nodding his head. "This way Ichigo-sama." Ichigo turned to Tayuya and Jirobo and nodded before following after the hyena. Orochimaru's and Kabuto's first thoughts about Ichigo having chakra hadn't been correct. He did indeed have the chakra network within his system although it was strongly undeveloped and only after Ichigo tried to create a clone after seeing Kidomaru do one, did Orochimaru ever see the signs of Ichigo having chakra.

Juha had explained to Ichigo that nobody could sense his chakra since his reiatsu smothered it. Upon numerous chakra exercises Orochimaru began to teach the young Quincy select jutsu, making him master several along with his regular training and night training. Among them was the **Summoning Jutsu **where Ichigo had made a contract with the Hyena summons, it was either that or rat summons. Even though Ichigo knew jutsu he didn't rely on them, mostly relying on his Quincy abilities. The jutsu he used the most was in fact the Summoning Jutsu.

"_Ichigo."_ Juha's voice resounded in Ichigo's mind.

"_Yeah, what's up?"_ Ichigo questioned as he continued after Kizzy.

"_Can I make a suggestion."_

"_If it's another clothing option I think that boat has sailed."_ Ichigo chuckled lightly bringing Tayuya's attention to him and he could sense Juha smirking slightly.

"_No, it's nothing like that."_ Juha told him. _"Ichigo, this new world. It's massive and what you've seen of it, it's been bathed in blood."_ Ichigo frowned at that, most of that blood had been shed by his teams hands.

"_What are you getting at?"_ Ichigo questioned stopping on a tree branch causing the others to halt along side him, only to see that his attention was elsewhere.

"_I'm suggesting you leave Orochimaru's side, go out on your own. You've learned the necessary skills to survive. You are no longer indebted to him Ichigo, do not feel obligated to that man any more. Everything you have done for him, your debt has been settled. He made you strong, and you fought for him."_ Ichigo gained a thoughtful look at that. _"Don't make your entire existence about blood shed."_

"Oi, everything alright over there?" Tayuya questioned, a frown on her face. She would often see Ichigo off in thought, almost as if he was talking to someone else entirely, when he was younger he often drifted out of one conversation and into another as if someone had been saying something completely different at the same time.

"Lets... let's set up camp." Ichigo said making Jirobo and Tayuya open their eyes wide in surprise.

"If you no longer need me Ichigo-sama." Kizzy suggested and Ichigo nodded the hyena disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Jumping down to the ground Ichigo threw his pack against a tree and rested against it with a sigh.

"_Where would I even go?"_ Ichigo questioned as Tayuya and Jirobo landed in the same clearing. _"What about everyone else? Tayuya, Jirobo, Sakon and Ukon, Kidomaru and Kimimaro?"_

"_Those have their own ties to Orochimaru Ichigo."_ Juha told him. _"If I had to guess, the girl would be the only one to come with you, you having the strongest bond with her. Kimimaro is too dedicated to Orochimaru. The others would be fearful of leaving Orochimaru. She would also be fearful... but she would still follow you. If you are to do it, now would be the best time. Orochimaru was talking about the curse marks..."_ Ichigo grit his teeth at that, he had heard Kabuto talking about the curse marks with Orochimaru one time and the success rate of them. Ichigo never truly trusted Orochimaru, if anything he didn't like anything about the Snake Sannin and hadn't planned on being under his service for much longer.

"_Fine..."_ Ichigo thought as he cast a gaze over Tayuya and Jirobo who were looking over at him with questioning gazes. _"I just hope..."_

"Everything alright over there Ichigo?" Tayuya asked walking over to him. "You seem... distracted."

"I'm fine." He told her making her frown slightly. "Don't worry, let's just get some rest for the night." Tayuya nodded her head as she set her bedroll up next to Ichigo.

**Yep, Ichigo does have chakra and only a handful of Jutsu, he won't be winging out massive jutsu one after another either. He will continue to use his Quincy powers as his main focus of his strenght. I should probably put it out there, but what do you readers think for a pairing?**

**Also the timeline at the moment is a year before the events of Naruto Canon, so the birthday that Naruko was talking about was his eleventh birthday. I probably won't be following Canon directly since well, I won't be following Naruto, I'll be following Ichigo.**


	4. Chapter 4

"_I-Ichigo..." Tayuya breathed out as she laid in her bedroll, her arms up above her head, her red hair sprawled out beneath her. Her hands were locked underneath Ichigo's strong grip, his eyes bore into her own, a blush covering her cheeks as she bit into her lower lip. _

_She could see the dim light of the fire flicker in his eyes, the eyes that only held her in his vision those eyes that were filled with so much lust and wanting. Tayuya let out a small gasp as she felt Ichigo's cold fingers on her hip, her shirt having ridden up slightly allowing Ichigo's hand to brush her smooth skin beneath the materiel._

"Tayuya." _His voice was filled with lust and a growing need. "I want you." Tayuya opened her mouth, she couldn't speak she could barely breath. The hand that was on the smooth skin of her hip trailed up her shirt making her breath hitch as she began to draw blood from how hard she was biting her lip. Somehow she had managed to get a hand from his grip and raised it up caressing his face before pulling him down and raising her own face up so that there lips could meet..._

"Ah fuck! Tayuya!? The hell?" Ichigo groaned in a hushed tone as he held his forehead in pain as he crouched beside her. She was sitting up in her bedroll before her eyes widened, it had been a dream? She rose her own hand to her forehead to feel it throbbing slightly from the impact that had happened between the two.

"Ichigo? What's going on?" She questioned in her own hushed voice, she looked around the dark camp, where had the fire gone. _"No, we didn't make a fire that was apart of the dream... a fucking dream! Another god __damn__ dream!" _She screamed in her mind.

"You freaking head butted me." Ichigo hissed out raising his head with a scowl making her raise a hand up to her mouth to stop herself from laughing at him. "Yeah fucking laugh it up." He grumbled at her.

"Sorry." Tayuya told him. "So why were you trying to wake me up." The air got heavy between them, she could just make out Ichigo's figure in the dark, if he hadn't spoken before she wouldn't have known where he was and even now she was only able to tell from his breathing. "Ichigo?" She questioned wanting to make sure he was still there.

"Tayuya." That was the voice he had used in his dream, she had mistaken it for lust, but there was defiantly a need in it. "I..." She listened as he took in a breath almost as if he was bracing himself. "Tayuya I'm not going back to Orochimaru." Tayuya's eyes widened in the dark not sure if she had heard him correctly.

"No." She simply stated shaking her head.

"Tayuya?"

"No!" She growled at him. "You have to come back!" She continued to keep her voice low as she reached out and gripped the front of his coat.

"Tayuya, I'm not going back." Ichigo's voice came from the dark again. She hung her head her grip loosening on his coat. Silence gripped them once more as Ichigo's hands wrapped around her wrists.

"Don't leave me alone there." She choked out, she could feel the tears running down her face, she brought her hands up to wipe them away. "I... I wanted to run, so many times I wanted to run away!" She sobbed. "But I couldn't bare to leave you there alone, I didn't want my only friend to stay in a place like that alone! Please, don't leave me alone! Stay with me!"

"Tayuya... come with me." Tayuya's head shot up as she stared into the darkness where Ichigo was kneeling before her. "Tayuya, I don't want to leave you behind." He assured her. "I want to take you with me, right now." Tayuya rose her hands up and wiped her cheeks. "There's a whole world out there that we can explore, just say yes. We don't have to keep fighting and causing death, our worlds don't have to be surrounded by pointless bloodshed any longer."

"W-What about everyone else? What about Jirobo and the others?" She questioned turning her attention to where Jirobo would still be sleeping.

"Tayuya." Ichigo said, his voice soft as he rose his hand up to turn her attention back to him. "This is the only chance we may get." He continued to tell her. "We're going to have to go far away, far from the eyes of Orochimaru's spies. Jirobo, he wouldn't be able to deal with the pressure of always being on the run. Kidomaru along with Sakon and Ukon, we can't go back for them." He continued in a soft tone. "As much as I want to, we can't." Tayuya swallowed nervously. "Please Tayuya... please say you'll come with me. As much as I want to leave Orochimaru, I don't want to be on my own." Ichigo lowered his head before Tayuya did the same resting her forehead on the back of his own.

"Ok." She smiled softly her cheeks still wet from her tears. "I don't want to live like this any more, I'll come with you. I'll leave everything behind and come with you." She wrapped her arms around Ichigo's upper body as she continued to rest her head against the back of his head. "What about Jirobo?" She questioned quietly as both rose their heads up.

"We have to leave now, while he's asleep. He will undoubtedly go back to Orochimaru or if he knows what's good for him, he'll go as far away as he can." Ichigo said sadly as he stood up offering the red head his hand to which she took. She was pulled to her feet effortlessly. "Leave your bedroll there, we'll get you another one tomorrow." Ichigo told her as he leant down and picked up his pack Tayuya doing the same. "You sure about this Tayuya? I don't know how long we'll be running for."

"Orochimaru-sa-" She cut herself off. "Orochimaru can chase us all he wants too." She told him. "Plus someone has to look after your dumb ass, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't know where the Land of Fire was, you'd be lost without me." She smiled warmly up at him, the faint glow of the morning allowing Ichigo to see it. He smiled back at her before they jumped into the trees, leaving a frowning Jirobo as he watched the duo jump away.

"_Stay safe you two."_ The large teen thought to himself as he closed his eyes once more hoping his friends would be safe.

X-X

"You alright Ero-sennin?" Naruko asked as she walked out of her room wearing a blue yukata. "It doesn't look like you slept at all last night." Jiraiya looked up from where he was seated, numerous manuscripts surrounding him.

"That would be because I haven't." Jiraiya told her rubbing his eyes. "Something has just been bugging me since yesterday is all." Naruko sat down across from him picking up one of his manuscripts before he smacked her hand causing her to drop the document. "Your mother catches you reading my material again and she'll burn my publisher alive, I know she will because she threatened to do it." Jiraiya pouted, Kushina Namikaze's wrath was not to be taken lightly.

"It's not like she's going to know, and apart from the very, graphic...eh hmm" She cleared her throat blushing lightly. "Love making scenes. They're a good read." She told him picking up the manuscript again and began to read it over. Jiraiya simply grinned at her.

"Of course it's a good read, I didn't just write it for the perverts out there, I wrote it because of simply writing good literature. It has everything one could want, romance, adventure, numerous sex scenes. Everyone's happy then." Naruko just shook her head as a smile came to her face.

"So what's got you so bothered then?" She questioned looking over the top of the manuscript.

"It's that boy we met yesterday." Jiraiya told her making her eyes widen slightly. "He looks like someone I use to know is all." Naruko lowered the manuscript back down to ground giving Jiraiya her full attention. Jiraiya sighed as he let a smile grace his face. "You won't let it be will you? Is your crush that bad?" He asked a slight smirk crossing his face.

"Would you stop with that!" Naruko whined puffing her cheeks up in annoyance.

"The boy's name was Yahiko, he was an orphan, he had the same orange hair same brown eyes. I'd imagine when he grew up he would of looked like the same boy that we saw yesterday." Jiraiya mused softly. "Or atleast during his teenage years that is."

"His name was Ichigo." Jiraiya simply smirked but shook his head in amusement.

"Ichigo then, however it was years ago that I saw Yahiko. During the Second Shinobi world war I trained him with two others, once I knew they were fit to take care of themselves I had to return to my duties as a Konoha shinobi." He told her. "From what I hear, they died a long time ago." He said sadly. "Ichigo just reminded me a lot of Yahiko is all, that's what's bothering me." Naruko nodded as she picked the manuscript back up seeing as Jiraiya was beginning to get lost in his thoughts once more.

"You think we'll see him again?" Naruko questioned softly.

"Who knows." Jiraiya told her laying down and closing his eyes. "This world works in mysterious ways dear apprentice. Perhaps, if you're destined to meet again, maybe you can ask him out on a date."

"Are you ever going to stop teasing me Ero-sennin?" Naruko huffed out in annoyance, pouting slightly.

"You ever going to stop calling me that?" Jiraiya asked in return.

"Probably not."

"There's your answer then." Jiraiya chuckled.

"I don't believe in destiny Ero-sennin." Naruko said as she looked towards the window. "If destiny is real, that just means we're not in control of our lives." She said softly as she heard Jiraiya's slight snores. Standing up she headed back to her room and got dressed in her usual attire before leaving the inn wanting to go for a bit of a walk. Three days from now was her little brother's birthday.

_"Maybe I can find Naruto-kun something here, it's getting harder to pick for him, all he really wants is free meals at Ichiraku's __or new kunai__."_ Naruko giggled to herself lightly as she walked down the street, the early morning bustle of the small town in full effect as people went about their shopping. Eyeing a few stalls that held minor trinkets she searched for something that might catch her eye.

Reaching out to pick up a small ring that she herself might wear her hand stopped, it was the same hand that Ichigo had kissed. Even now the day after it had happened she could still slightly feel the lingering trace of his lips against her skin. Raising the hand up she traced her other hand's fingers over the spot and frowned slightly. She narrowed her eyes at the back of her hand before she attempted to see if she could sense a Genjutsu on her hand but nothing was out of the ordinary, she didn't know why she could still feel his lips upon her skin.

"_Maybe Ero-sennin is right."_ Naruko sighed as she began to look over the rings in the stall once more. _"I barely know him, how could I have a crush on someone I barely know?"_ She thought to herself. _"Sure... he was kinda cute."_ She blushed lightly as she picked up a ring and placed it on her index finger before frowning and putting it back down before turning and walking away from the stall. _"I probably won't ever see him again."_

"You know you're a pain in the ass right?" Ichigo's voice reached her ears causing her to stop.

"You were the one who woke me up at god knows what time, so it's your fault I'm tired!" Naruko looked up to see Ichigo and Tayuya walk out of a small restaurant carrying sticks of dango. Tayuya seemingly angry because of her lack of sleep while Ichigo seemed well rested or at least covered it better then his red haired companion.

"Kurosaki-san!" Naruko called out with a smile as she rose her hand before she even knew what she was doing. Ichigo and Tayuya looked back towards her, upon seeing the blonde Tayuya instantly scowled at her while Ichigo smiled lightly.

"Namikaze-sama." Ichigo greeted in return, the duo walking up to Naruko. "We didn't think we'd run into you again."

"Please." Naruko smiled lightly. "Just Naruko is fine."

"_How about Slut Bag-sama leader of all slut bags."_ Tayuya thought to herself as she ate her dango, slightly glaring at the blonde girl across from her.

"You were heading in the other direction when you left us yesterday, how did you end up here?" Naruko questioned.

"Tayuya here was a bit hasty in her decision making and dragged me off in the wrong direction." Ichigo chuckled lightly.

"Oh you so did not just blame that on me!" Tayuya snapped at him, seemingly playing along with Ichigo's ruse. "If there wasn't dango on this stick I'd stab you with it." She threatened holding up the snack in her hand making Ichigo raise his hands up in defence.

"I don't think we were properly introduced yesterday." Naruko said offering her hand to the red head. "I'm Naruko Namikaze." Tayuya looked down at the blonde's outstretched hand then back up at her face.

"Tayuya." She mumbled around a piece of dango, keeping her hands by her side. "Tayuya fucking no name is who I am." Naruko awkwardly retracted her hand as Tayuya smirked slightly as Ichigo sighed beside her. "You can also refer to me as Tayuya-sama. Which I recall someone was suppose to continue to call me." She glared up at Ichigo.

"I told you Tayuya, that's not happening." Ichigo told her who simply huffed in annoyance. "Well anyway Naruko-san, we should leave you to it." Ichigo told her making her frown slightly. "We're heading North."

"We are?" Tayuya asked slightly surprised.

"Yeah." Ichigo nodded. "I heard a rumour about a caravan heading that way so I thought we might go along with them." Tayuya frowned but nodded regardless. "We've got a few things to pick up before we meet up with them so we're going to be pretty busy." Ichigo continued. "We'll see you around Naruko-san."

"Alright Kurosaki-san, Tayuya-san, have a safe trip." Ichigo nodded as Tayuya took one last chance to glare at her before heading after Ichigo. Naruko frowned as the duo headed off down the street. She had no idea when she would see Ichigo again, if ever. _"Maybe, __believing__ in destiny wouldn't be so bad."_

X-X

"So why are we heading north?" Tayuya questioned as the duo walked out of the small town with new supplies. "We are heading North right?"

"North, North East." Ichigo shrugged. "We're heading to the Land of Lighting." He continued as they walked down the path. "Before you ask." He started again making Tayuya close her mouth as she had been about to ask why they were going to the Land of Lightning. "Orochimaru doesn't have many spies in the Land of Lightning, his main priorities are in the Land of Fire, connected with Konoha. If we keep our heads down and stay out of trouble up there, then we shouldn't have anyone coming after us." Tayuya mused it over, it was true that Orochimaru's main focus was on the village he defected from but he did have spies in other nations.

"Makes sense." Tayuya nodded in agreement. "Just how long have you been thinking about leaving?" She questioned glancing up at him from the corner of her eye. "It looks as if you've figured out a plan, and I'm sure you didn't just think it up over night." She continued.

"For a while now." Ichigo admitted. "I'm glad you came with me Tayuya." Tayuya's cheeks reddened as she looked away from him, slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah well someone had to read the map didn't they?" She huffed out in annoyance making Ichigo chuckle lightly. They continued to walk along the path for an hour before they ventured off the main road down a small track which led to a large clearing that was full of people, animals and wagons. "Holy fuck, big enough convoy?" Tayuya questioned as she looked up at Ichigo.

"It's one of the largest caravan's to travel the Elemental Nations." Ichigo informed her.

"That's... that's a fucking rhino and there are ostriches too? What are we joining a god damn circus Ichigo?" Tayuya questioned seeing the exotic animals making Ichigo chuckle as they walked forward. "Didn't you say we should keep our heads down, this seems kinda the opposite of that."

"Orochimaru will be looking for people trying to hide, but if we're in plain sight..."

"He won't look in area's such as these that draw attention to themselves." Tayuya finished her eyes widening as she began to understand Ichigo's plan. "You do have a brain." She teased.

"Shut up or I'll feed you to a rhino." Ichigo grumbled.

"Hello there!" A cheery voice said making both Tayuya and Ichigo look up to see a man walking towards them. He was an elderly man with a bulbous red nose, neck-length white hair, a short moustache on both sides of his face and a long beard of the same colour. He wears a brown tunic with a black under-shirt and red sleeves, and a blue fez-hat with a pink feather sticking out of it. "What is it that me and my fine wanders can do for you this grand day?" He questioned.

"We're looking to see if you would accept us into your group." Ichigo said stepping forward with a smile. "We've been travelling on our own for some time now and heard a rumour that there was a large caravan heading in the same direction."

"We have no direction my boy, we go where the roads take us, which is currently leading us North." The man chuckled. "We'd welcome you on our journey friends. My name is Kahiko, I lead this band of wanders."

"Ichigo Kurosaki, and this is Tayuya." Ichigo introduced them remembering Tayuya's self introduction to Naruko earlier. "We have some skills we can offer or money if you'd rather."

"No sonny boy, nothing like that." Kahiko smiled waving it off. "The roads are everyone's, simply chat with an old man and listen to his stories while we travel, that's all I ask and you can travel with us until you reach your destination." He smiled making Ichigo nod as he held his hand out Kahiko accepting it.

"Thank you Kahiko-san, we appreciate you taking us in." Kahiko nodded as he smiled warmly.

"So, how does a brother and sister end up on the road?" He questioned as he led the three over to where a large wagon was being packed up by several different people.

"We're not related." Ichigo told him. "We've been friends for a long time, the roads just seemed to call out to us is all."

"Ah." Kahiko nodded in understanding. "Ichigo-kun, help me with this will you?" Ichigo nodded as he helped the old man lift a trunk onto the back of the wagon. "You two can ride on the wagon with me, unless you want to ride one of the ostriches." He suggested as he tied down the tarp over the back of the wagon.

"The wagon will be fine." Tayuya said as she watched a few people mount the large birds. _"__Like hell I'd get on one of those things."_

"Oh, is Tayuya-chan scared of a bird?" Kahiko teased making Tayuya's eyebrow twitch. "Well, let's all board on up and get this show on the road." Ichigo nodded as Kahiko got up front while Ichigo and Tayuya rested on the back of the wagon on top of a few bales of hay that were covered by a tarp. Tayuya pushing her pack up against a bale and getting comfortable.

"I'm going to catch up on some sleep." Tayuya said to Ichigo. "Since you ruined mine last night." She huffed closing her eyes missing the small smile coming to Ichigo's face. Gripping the reigns that were strapped to the two Rhino's at the front of the wagon, with a quick flick the rhino's began to move forward pulling the wagon along behind them. As they set out Ichigo smiled letting the freedom of the ride take him away.

"Tell me Ichigo-kun, do you know any good stories? I've met a lot of travels in my day and I always like to hear new ones." Kahiko said looking over his shoulder to see Ichigo resting up against the hay bales. Ichigo hummed in thought for a moment before a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Kahiko-san, tell me, have you ever heard the legend of the Quincy?" Kahiko thought for a few moments but shook his head.

"I can't say that I have Ichigo-kun." He smiled. "I must say, I love a good story."

"Well the Quincy were... are a proud clan." He began. "The Quincy King, Juha Bach created the Quincy. Not only is he the King of the Quincy, he was also known as the Father of all Quincy since his blood flows within every Quincy." Ichigo explained getting a nod from the old man, Kahiko intrigued by a new tale. "At one point, the Quincy were scattered all over the world, the Quincies reign ruling far. But tragedy struck and the Quincies were seemingly wiped out."

"A sad event in their history." Kahiko said making Ichigo nod his head in agreement.

"But there is a legend among the Quincy of today." Ichigo smiled lightly. "According to legend, they spoke of The Sealed King."

"Juha Bach?" Kahiko questioned surprised.

"The very same." Ichigo smiled as the cart was pulled along by the rhino's. "The Quincy spoke of him as The Sealed King: after nine hundred years of being sealed he would regain his pulse, after another ninety years he would regain his intellect and after nine more years, he would absorb the power of every impure Quincy to make their abilities his own." Ichigo said softly, remembering how Juha had explained to him of what had happened to his mother. "Legend also tells that The Sealed King would regain the world after nine days of his awakening."

"Nine hundred and ninety nine years." Kahiko breathed out. "How long has it been Ichigo-kun? Since that legend was made." Ichigo was silent for a while making Kahiko turn back to look at him to see him staring up into the blue skies above.

"Nine hundred and ninety four years ago." He said softly before a small smile came to his face as he turned back to Kahiko. "But no need to worry yourself Kahiko-san. The legend isn't of this world and the Quincy only have a quarrel with the ones that eradicated them." He explained.

"That's a good thing Ichigo-kun, your story scared me a little bit there." Kahiko chuckled slightly nervous, Ichigo had been completely serious when telling him about the legend. "I've never heard of such a tale much like that one, thank you for telling me."

"It was my pleasure Kahiko-san." Ichigo replied leaning back into the bales of hay. He closed his eyes as the breeze washed over him. Soon enough he fell asleep, gentle music was played while the caravan moved along which only lulled him to sleep even more.

When he awoke it was to something curled up on his chest, the small weight was what had disturbed him. Opening his eyes he saw that it was probably around midday from the way the sun was sitting. He glanced to his right to see Tayuya sitting up cleaning her flute, her thoughts elsewhere completely and not on her task. Ichigo glanced down only to see a small light brown ferret curled up on his chest.

"It's been there for about twenty minutes, could be longer since it was there when I woke up." Tayuya said as Ichigo rested back against the hay bales glancing up at her. Tilting her flute up to the sun the metal gleaming in the sunlight. "It didn't seem to bother you so I didn't do anything about it."

"Oh, I've seen you've met Nerugui." Kahiko said looking over his shoulder at them. "It's odd, he usually doesn't' take to strangers well." Kahiko mused.

"He's yours?" Ichigo questioned.

"Well, he's more of a free spirit then anything to be honest." Kahiko chuckled. "He comes and goes as he pleases, but he's always around that's for sure,a lways sticking with the caravan." Kahiko told him. Raising his hands up Ichigo pulled the ferret from his chest, squirming a little as it's small eyes fluttered open revealing them to be a deep red. Nerugui tilted his head as he looked into Ichigo's own brown eyes, Tayuya had to smile slightly, it was kinda cute. Ichigo sat up and placed the ferret in his lap as he crossed his legs, the Ferret simply curling up once more.

"Who knew you were good with animals, you probably smell like a wild dog to him with how much time you spend with Kizzy." Tayuya said leaning back against the hay bale, twirling her flute in her hand with expert precision having done it for so many years. Ichigo rolled his head to the side to look at her and she smiled lightly back at him, her read hair blowing lightly in the wind.

"Hey Ichigo-kun." Kahiko spoke up making Ichigo glance back to their driver, Tayuya scowling slightly at the interruption.

"Yeah Kahiko-san, something the matter?" Ichigo questioned.

"No, just that outfit you're wearing. It seems awful cumbersome for someone travelling such as yourself." He queried.

"Actually it's pretty durable." Ichigo told him. "Pain to get stains out of it though." Kahiko laughed at Ichigo's small joke.

"Don't worry about that my boy, my granddaughter is able to get stains out of almost anything, if you need your clothes washed just give them to her, she'll make those fancy clothes of yours look as good as new." Ichigo nodded his thanks as their wagon was pulled along by the rhino's.

Both Tayuya and Ichigo had to admit, the day was spent travelling was actually quite fun, getting to know some of the wanders who approached and greeted them while riding ostriches. Hearing Kahiko tell them stories of some of the travels he had met over the years. Songs could be heard from other wanders on the caravan, all together it was peaceful even under the circumstances Ichigo and Tayuya were having fun.

That night when they stopped and everyone had set up their camps, tents littered the area big and small. Ichigo and Tayuya were sitting next to one another by a small fire in front of Kahiko's tent, having been offered to place their bedrolls within which they took thankfully as the clouds above promised rain later in the evening. They ate their meals listening to several musicians enjoying the music as Kahiko sat down across from them.

"Tayuya-chan, you should give it a go, I saw you cleaning and playing with your flute all day." Kahiko told her. "I'm sure you play well, your flute is well crafted. Will you play something for us?" He questioned with a warm smile.

"I don't think so." Tayuya said nervously, she had seen how the others played and how everyone had cheered for them. She'd be embarrassed if that happened, the only one she had willingly played for without the use of Genjutsu were herself and Ichigo.

"No need to be nervous Tayuya-chan." Kahiko's granddaughter Emina said as she sat down next to her grandfather. "Nobody here will make fun of you, we'll only encourage." Tayuya glanced at the expectant faces of Emina and Kahiko before glancing at Ichigo who smiled at her making her give in.

"Fine." Tayuya sighed reaching into weapons pouch and pulling out her flute. _"__Might as well put you all under a fucking Genjutsu while I'm at it."_ She looked into Ichigo's eyes to see them narrowed slightly as if to say 'don't you dare'. "What?" She questioned with a growing smirk.

"Don't even think about it." He told her.

"Your no fun." She pouted before taking a breath and raising the flute to her mouth.

As music played into the night air from Tayuya's flute, Ichigo looked up into the clouds high above with a small smile on his face, hearing Tayuya's music from her flute always made Icihgo think of his mother, it wasn't a bad thing by any means and he couldn't very well blame Tayuya if it was. Her music was beautiful and warm just like his mother was, if anything, he would have to say he was happy to be reminded of her while listening to Tayuya.

When all was said and done and they everyone had retreated to their tents for the evening, Ichigo and Tayuya headed for their own as she first spits of the rain came down upon them.

"Hope this doesn't carry on too long." Ichigo said raising his hand up to catch a couple of droplets as they walked to the tent.

"Hey Ichigo." Tayuya said making the orang haired Quincy look down at her. "That story you told the old man earlier, when we first started out today. About the Quincy."

"You heard all that?" Ichigo asked surprised. "I thought you had fallen asleep." He chuckled lightly. "What about it?"

"You're one of those Quincy aren't you?" She asked.

"Yeah." Ichigo nodded as the stood in the light droplets of the rain. "I am."

"What exactly is a Quincy?" She asked looking up at him.

"It's a long story Tayuya and we need to get to sleep. I'll tell you one day alright?" Tayuya nodded her head as they walked into the large tent where they had set their bedrolls down. Both dried themselves off from the rain.

"Can you tell me one thing Ichigo." He glanced over to her from where he had stood beside the lantern to see her climbing into her bedroll. "The legend, about The Sealed King, is it true?" Ichigo frowned slightly as he turned to the flickering flame within the lantern. Remembering everything Juha Bach had told him about the legend about how it had taken the life of his mother.

"It better be."


	5. Chapter 5

It had been just five days since Ichigo and Tayuya had joined up with the travelling caravan, Kahiko taking a liking to the both of them. Although after he learned more about Tayuya and how she had a mouth on her like a drunk in a bar, he tried to get his granddaughter Emina to stay as far away from her as possible not wanting the young girl to pink up on the red head's swearing habits. Tayuya couldn't get angry at Kahiko for doing so, if anything she was slightly grateful to the old man. Even in the few days that he knew them, he treated them like his own grandchildren, telling stories, making them laugh.

She truly felt like he was her grandfather, but knew that soon when they reached the Land of Lightning that they would have to part ways. She was dreading that day to be honest, among the caravan she felt safe but she knew that it couldn't be forever. She found herself laughing with some of the people she had met in the caravan when they were sitting around the camp fires during the evenings, people encouraged her to play the flute which at the beginning she was reluctant to do but soon got use to doing so. Most nights she was with the others preforming a group performance which ended in cheers and dancing, they were a party people. She even managed to pull Ichigo up to play a tambourine with them one time much to his disgust before she dragged him into a dance.

Ichigo had explained what he was, a Quincy and why others couldn't sense his chakra, it was because another force, his reiatsu was overwhelming the chakra network in his body. However she felt as if he was leaving some things out, perhaps they weren't important but she had a nagging feeling that they were, that Ichigo held something deep in his thoughts and wasn't able to tell her. She knew that if he needed to he would speak with her, they were close friends after all, spending the last five years together through thick and thin.

They knew almost everything about one another, although they did keep some secrets from one another, Ichigo keeping his Quincy heritage from her along with what ever else while she kept her feelings from him.

She figured it was fair ground.

So here she sat on the back of the wagon, her feet dangling off the side as she played her flute as kids ran after her with wide grins on their faces. She held herself back during the moments with children as best she could although she slipped up from time to time much to their parents displeasure. Ichigo was behind her sitting on the bales of hay that had turned into their usual spot since their first time aboard the wagon.

He was looking over a map, what had made Tayuya be at the back of the wagon while he was thinking so intently? It was that he wasn't wearing his coat since the weather was quite warm at the moment, covering his chest was his simple body mesh armour that very much looked skin tight defining his muscles very easily. She had caught herself drooling before moving away from him.

His coat was resting beside him folded neatly. He had assured her that when they got to the Land of Lightning and got some work he'd find her similar clothes like she had asked for. She was actually looking forward to starting a new life in the Land of Lightning, her missions having never led her to the country before. She was a bit wary on the Kumo shinobi that would be roaming the country side but if they just plaid off that they were mercenaries or something they shouldn't have too much trouble... well that was what she was thinking, she had no idea what her Quincy companion was thinking.

Tayuya pulled her flute from her lips the sound of the music stopping.

"That's all ya little brats." She grinned making the children whine before running away, their attentions being caught by something shiny... probably. "Ahh... I'm beat." She sighed slumping back onto the wagon, only a few hay bales remaining for them to sit on, most of them having been fed to the animals.

"Keep that attitude up and I'll think you're starting to slack off." Ichigo chuckled lightly.

"It's not like I'm going to loose anything after a few days of much needed relaxation" Tayuya told him. "Plus, we haven't really had the time to train." Ichigo nodded in agreement as he pulled the pencil he was using and stuck it up behind his ear. Reaching into the pouch that was attached to his leg he pulled out a scroll and threw it down to her which she caught effortlessly. "What's this?"

"Something I nabbed from Kabuto's office before we set out." Ichigo told her pulling the pencil from behind his ear and going back to his map. "Thought you might be interested in it, your medial ninjutsu isn't that much but maybe you could increase it, it's up to you. It's a scroll that Kabuto was making for some up and coming green Genin from Kusagakure. Or something like that." Ichigo shrugged. "Wasn't really paying attention, I just grabbed it."

"Idiot." She chuckled lightly as she unfolded the scroll and began to read through it. Neither worried about Kahiko when talking about ninjutsu or shinobi related conversation, the old man had approached them both with the suspicion that they weren't run of the mill travellers earlier on in their time together. They had come clean and told him that they were skilled shinobi but didn't relate on any more then that, only stating that they needed to get the Land of Lightning, he didn't ask any more questions and went back to being his normal self stating that it wasn't his place to pry and that it was their business not his.

"Hey Ichigo-kun, come up here for a moment." Ichigo looked up over his shoulder to see Kahiko looking over his shoulder. Ichigo nodded and folded the map up and placed the pencil behind his ear once more before walking up the wagon and sat down beside Kahiko. "What's that look like to you?" He questioned as he pointed up the track to where Ichigo looked and his eyes narrowed slightly as he saw two figures walking towards them.

They were a fare distance away so Ichigo couldn't make out any distinct features of the duo. However he could clearly see that one was shorter then the other.

"Just keeping going Kahiko-san." Ichigo told him reaching into his weapons pouch and pulling out a small mirror before placing one of the metal rods from his belt down next to it. "But if things do go south, we'll be ready."

"Damn straight we will be." Tayuya said leaning over a hay bale. "We won't let anything happen to you guys if these guys are a bunch of pin dicks with a chip on their shoulder, we'll simply kick their asses."

"My, my Tayuya-chan." Kahiko sighed. "How are you ever going to get married if you keep talking like that? You'll never meet any new people and you'll either grow old or you will have to marry Ichigo-kun here." Tayuya's face heated up as Kahiko laughed, Ichigo just shaking his head as Tayuya sat back crossing her arms, not even able to come up with a reply to the old man's teasing. The caravan continued heading forward, the distance between the approaching duo and the caravan closing. That's when Tayuya's and Ichigo's eyes went wide.

"Akatsuki." Both muttered under their breath.

"Aka-what now?" Kahiko questioned turning to the two.

"Kahiko-san, if anything happens, get out of here. Get everyone you can and run as fast as you can." Tayuya said quietly as he saw the distinctive red clouds on their black cloaks. "These guys don't mess around."

"They're also not prone to attack for seemingly no reason." Ichigo reminded her. "So you, keep your mouth shut." He told her.

"What the fuck is that suppose to mean?" Tayuya growled out.

"It just means you're not a people person Tayuya-chan." Kahiko smiled at her. "That's what you're trying to get across right Ichigo-kun?"

"Sure... that." Tayuya slapped him in the back of the head. "Damn it Tayuya."

"Watch your mouth Ichigo." She growled at him. The caravan kept moving forward the three simply watching the duo as they walked closer, the two seemingly in an argument over something, however the taller one seemed to be the more irritated then the smaller one. Orochimaru had informed them about his time with the criminal group made up of S-class missing shinobi and how they they were all powerful ninja in their own right and to always be wary of them.

"This is the third time today that you've begun to piss me off." The gruff voice came from the shortened Akatsuki member.

"I told you, but you kept pushing un." The taller replied. "Our takes on art are completely different." He continued, their faces were blocked by the hat's they wore white strands falling down over their faces. "We need to settle this once and for all if we're going to stay partners Sasori."

"I'd rather you be dead then continue as partners." Sasori told him making Deidara laugh heartedly as they came upon the caravan.

"Good morning gents." Kahiko smiled warmly as he pulled the rhino's up to a stop, Ichigo and Tayuya both hid their shock well. The two Akatsuki stopped and looked up at them. "You wouldn't know how far it is to the border now would you?" He questioned.

"Depends what border you're talking about old man." Deidara informed him reaching up and pulling his hat off so the man could see his face, Kahiko not even reacting to the slash on his Iwa headband. His one uncovered eye looked the three over noticing the laid back expression on the teens face that sat up the front next to Kahiko and the bored look on the girls face as she rested her head up on her hand behind the duo.

"Don't mind my grandchildren, they're just a bit bored." Kahiko chuckled lightly. "We've been on the road for quite some time now it gets tiresome for the young. But alas the border I'm talking about is the one into the Land of Lightning."

"You've got another few days old man, you've got to pass through the Land of Hot Water, then the Land of Frost before you hit the Land of Lightning un." Deidara told him before a smile came to his face. "Let me ask you a question, me and my man Sasori here have been having a bit of an argument for some time ourselves and can't seem to come to an agreement."

"Oh? We'll it'd be a pleasure to offer my services to a couple of gentlemen like yourselves." Kahiko smiled at them.

"It's about our taste in art you see un." Deidara said raising his hand up, the black sleeve of his cloak slipping down his arm revealing a mouth in the palm of his hand seemingly chewing something. "I think that art is something that only lasts for an instant, something that gets your heart racing as it burns away even after it has just been seen." Tayuya raised an eyebrow at him while Ichigo clenched the metal rod that he had placed down next to him with the mirror. The hand spat out a small clay spider making Kahiko look closely. Deidara raised the small clay spider up between his fingers so the three could get a look at it.

"You see? Art is in it self a beauty, but alas this is not where the true beauty lies un." He turned and with a powerful throw the spider went sailing into the trees. It wasn't even a minute later that the forest was shattered by a large explosion, the three in the wagon had to brace themselves from the large force that came from the explosion. "Now that, was a true work of art. But Sasori my man, thinks that beauty lasts for all eternity so we've been in a little disagreement about it." Sasori growled in annoyance at the man standing next to him.

"That was certainly something." Kahiko nodded as he saw the smoke starting to raise from the forest.

"I gotta agree, something like that is art." Tayuya said looking off into the trees. "Pretty showy." She continued.

"Ah, someone that appreciates true art!" Deidara laughed. "What about you? What do you think on the subject?" He questioned Ichigo who was still gripping the metal rod he had pulled from his belt.

"I'd have to say that art is something that the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination can manage to create, such as the spider you just made or someone's painting or sculptures even music. Everything in it's own right can be considered an art form of some type." Ichigo replied with a shrug.

"Can I change my answer to that?" Tayuya asked as Deidara simply smiled as he pulled his hat back onto his head.

"I don't think our argument will ever be solved Sasori my man." He said, Ichigo could feel Sasori's eyes on him from beneath the hat he was wearing. "With an opinion such as his, it'd be hard to determine what true art is un." He continued as he began to walk forward. "You will reach the border to the Land of Hot Water later on today if you keep travelling at a steady pace old man."

"I thank you again." Kahiko replied with a smile, Sasori continued to look up at them from where he was standing hunched over on the ground staring at Ichigo from behind his hat before he turned and continued on after Deidara. Kahiko got the rhino's moving once again as Ichigo raised the mirror up and saw the two retreating figures of the Akatsuki start to disappear down the trail of the caravan.

"Holy fuck nuggets." Tayuya breathed out slumping down on the barrel as Ichigo lowered the mirror, the two Akatsuki far beyond the caravan now. Tayuya raised her hand up and slapped Kahiko in the arm. "What the hell you old fart! You trying to give us a heart attack!?"

"They seemed like nice folk." Kahiko told her. "Nothing happened so it's best to move on." He continued with a smile. "Never hurts to speak to people along the road, we're almost at the border exiting the Land of Fire."

"Some warning next time." Tayuya huffed out as she turned and leaned her back against the hay bale. "Those are some powerful shinobi, and dangerous criminals to boot."

"Best not to let your mind wander on it Tayuya." Ichigo told her. "Just go back to your scroll."

"Fine." She mumbled, pulling the medical scroll and began to read it as Ichigo twirled the metal rod around in his hand placing the mirror back into his weapon's pouch. His mind going a hundred miles a minute. To those two, Orochimaru seemed like small fry.

"_A reason to get stronger." _Juha's voice echoed in his mind.

"_Isn't their always a reason?"_ Ichigo mused getting a slight chuckle from the Quincy phantom within his mind. _"We have to keep pushing ourselves if we want to get stronger, simply fighting one another won't cause much of a change within our own strengths."_ Ichigo added.

"_Tayuya is strong, but you yourself are in a league above her own."_ Juha confirmed. _"You will need other allies."_ Ichigo nodded in agreement continuing to spin the metal rod in his hand. He felt the air began to get heavy making his scowl increase somewhat in annoyance, Juha was always holding something back from him.

"_Something you want to add?"_ Ichigo questioned.

"_Yes."_ Juha told him. _"Ichigo, until... no, never mind that." _ He stopped himself making Ichigo raise an eyebrow slightly, Juha was never this hard up to get words out. _"Ichigo you are the only Quincy in this land, the only one with high reiatsu levels to which you can use. You need to let the world know that the Quincy race is powerful and not to be trifled with. You deserve to be recognised by the world."_ Ichigo frowned slightly as he turned and looked at the passing trees. _"It will take time and it will take you forming allies with others. But I know you can do it."_

"_What exactly are you asking me to do here?"_ Ichigo asked.

"_Show this world, true power."_ Juha told him. _"Show this world the power a Quincy holds."_

X-X

Ichigo landed next to Tayuya with a slight grunt as he stretched out his legs, them having been stuck beneath him for the majority of the day as he had been sitting on the wagon. They had just reached the Land of Lightning, a small clearing just over the border. It was where they were parting ways with the caravan.

"You sure you don't want to stick with us for a bit longer?" Kahiko questioned looking down at the duo who held small grateful smiles on their faces.

"Sorry Kahiko-san, this is where we part ways." Ichigo told him. "From here on out, we have to find our own way." Kahiko climbed down from the wagon, several other caravanner's beginning to unpack their belongings from their own respective wagons getting ready to set up for the night.

"It's a shame truly." Kahiko said gripping Ichigo's hand in his own. "I wish our journeys could of continued on with one another for quite some time Ichigo-kun, Tayuya-chan." He smiled softly letting go of Ichigo's hand and offering it to Tayuya who accepted it without hesitation. "You two be careful out there you hear? I know you're ninja, and I know you have your own strength but don't go underestimating the world."

"We won't old man." Tayuya told him with a grin. "We're a pretty though team to beat and we'll only be getting stronger out there." Kahiko nodded as he chuckled lightly.

"I'm sad to see you go, even if it had been a little while I truly believe that in our futures we will meet again and I for one hope that day comes." Kahiko told them. Ichigo nodded as he patted Kahiko on the shoulder before turning around, the duo beginning to walk away from the caravan disappearing into the trees. _"Good luck you two, stay safe and take care of one another."_

It was quiet as Ichigo and Tayuya walked away from the caravan where they had spent the last week and a half, they had grown accustomed to travelling with the wanderers, but that was one of the reason's that they couldn't stay. Their lives as shinobi have introduced to them that there will never be time to be safe, and with Orochimaru looking for them, they didn't want to bring unneeded danger to the caravan.

"This sucks." Tayuya mumbled as they walked along.

"Yeah." Ichigo replied with a slight sigh. "But we have to keep going forward." Tayuya nodded beside him before stretching her arms out in front of herself with a slight groan before folding them behind her head.

"So what's the plan? I'm sure you didn't spend the entire week drawing on our map for no reason." Tayuya said eyeing him from the corner of her eye to see him chuckle lightly making a small smile come to her own face. "So, you going to tell me or keep me in the dark?"

"Well, I figured we could get a small business and run it for a couple of years, settle down and keep under the radar" Ichigo told her making her sweat drop slightly.

"Seriously? That's your massive plan? Us open up a little business? I take it back form the other day, you don't have a brain." Ichigo slapped her in the back of the head playfully making her glare at him.

"I've got a plan." Ichigo told her. "Although I don't know how you'll go hearing it." He sighed.

"What do you mean?" She questioned frowning slightly.

"We work as mercenaries for a few months." Tayuya nodded already having come to the same conclusion. "Then, we head to Kumo." Tayuya stopped walking dead in her tracks as she stared wide eyes. "From there we either remain low, under the radar or find ourselves some allies within the village, possibly the entire village, which would mean that we would be joining Kumo's shinobi ranks. It may take us a long time but I think the two of us can do it, but for future plans... it's going to have to be more then just us." Ichigo stopped and looked back at Tayuya who was eyeing him.

"And what's the future plan?" She questioned making Ichigo frown before he ran a hand through his hair. He walked back towards her and pulled his pack form his back and pulled out the map he had been setting everything out on. He held it up and she saw numerous writings, some scribbled out.

Her eyes went all over the map, some details of Ichigo's plan more thought out over the paper. She took it from his hands as they continued walking, her eyes looking over the entire map trying to find what Ichigo's plan was before her eyes went wide. To the north west of the Land of Lightning was a cluster of islands before a large island could be seen, in Ichigo's hand writing he had drawn a crown next to the capital.

"You want to take over a nation?" She questioned in shock as she stared up at him to see that he had stopped walking. "Why would you want to do something like that? I've never known you to be one to stand in the spotlight, especially now when we're on the run from Orochimaru."

"Tayuya, it's... it's just something that I have to do." He told her. "I'll understand if you don't want to help."

"Help? Fuck yes I'll help!" She grinned widely. "We'll have a nation all to ourselves, and if everything goes to plan then we have Kumo as our allies and they're pretty fucking strong! From what I know of the Land of Snow they're the most technological advanced in the Elemental nations! This is the best fucking idea I've ever heard come out of your mouth... well apart from leaving Orochimaru that is." She grinned making Ichigo smile warmly at her, her cheeks heating up slightly from how he was looking at her.

"I knew I could count on you Tayuya." He told her.

"Don't get all fucking mushy on me now." Tayuya huffed her cheeks reddening as she rose the map up to cover her face from his view and continuing to walk forward before she felt her hand on his shoulder and stopped and looked up to see him shaking his head in amusement. "What!?" She snapped.

"You were about to run into a tree." She turned around to see that she was about two feet form a tree. "Come on, let's go. We have to start our mercenary careers after all." Tayuya nodded as she folded the map up, she could read over his notes later. Both readied themselves before leaping into the trees heading far to the North where they would be far from the eyes of Orochimaru, however... there were a set of eyes on them that they hadn't detected.

Forming from the bark of a tree two large venus fly-trap like extensions split open revealing a person within, with short green hair, yellow eyes, and that the body has two different coloured. His left side is completely white, while the right side is almost entirely black. The upper half of his body that wasn't residing within the tree was covering in the black and red Akatsuki cloak.

"Interesting children to say the least." Voiced the white side of the strange being. "Having such plans at their age, they're really something else."

"**Sasori was correct in his assumption. There is something to the boy then just chakra."** The dark side of the creature replied.

"And he has a certain resemblance to a certain someone hmm?"

"**Just remove the piercings and those eyes."** The black side nodded in agreement. **"Yet not strong enough to join the Akatsuki."**

"Not strong enough, yet that is. They were Orochimaru's play things, they are strong and have the chance to become stronger. They only need the training after all." The white side added. "If they ally themselves with Kumo like they planned... then that could be problematic in the future."

"**Let's return to Leader-sama and see what he thinks on the matter."**

"Agreed."


	6. Chapter 6

Ichigo and Tayuya walked through a set of doors Ichigo with a large black bag over his shoulder, three people within the room immediately drew their weapons before seeing it was the duo. As promised Tayuya had gotten a similar outfit like Ichigo's own hers is a variation of Ichigo's own typical white uniform, consisting of thigh-length trench coat, knee-high boots, a miniskirt, and black stockings. She had a large black belt with a similar design to Ichigo's and a white cap, which features a black peak and with an insignia emblazoned on its front, Ichigo had taken to wearing the same type of cap. The insignia itself was a five pointed cross that Ichigo had made for both of their hats.

Ichigo's hard gaze looked over the occupants of the room before leading Tayuya into a corridor. The two walked down the corridor towards the back room, several doors littered the halls but neither cared for them. It had been six months since the two had left the caravan and became mercenaries, getting started had been hard, they didn't know a lot of people in the Land of Lightning and it took them a while to get the right contacts but they had finally managed to get through in their second month so the majority of the time that they had been within the Land of Lighting they had been working and made a name for themselves.

Opening the door at the end of the corridor Ichigo held it open as Tayuya walked in, Ichigo following after her. Closing the door behind him the two walked up to the desk before standing at the ready. Sitting at the table behind large stacks of money was a tall lean man with short black hair and a little bit of stubble and was dressed in a formal suit. This was their current employer Marko.

"Ah, you two made it back, how are you?" Marko greeted spreading his arms with a grin.

"Fuck off." Tayuya growled back at him.

"Lovely as always Tayuya-chan." Ichigo simply threw the large bag onto the desk knocking over the money. "Ah, how did it go?" He questioned sitting back in his chair.

"Your a fucking cock sucker you know that!" Tayuya roared at him. "You had us walking into a trap! I ought to shove a kunai down your fucking throat and pull it out your ass!" She shouted lunging forward only for Ichigo to hold her back, the man behind the desk simply laughing.

"Always full of spirit Tayuya-chan, it's a wonder why you haven't taken me up on my offer yet." A blue glowing blade slammed down onto the table making the man gulp nervously as he looked up into Ichigo's narrowed eyes, illuminated by the glow of the reiatsu filled sword Ichigo's hand resting on the metal hilt of his **Seele Schneider**.

"Give us our cut. Now." Ichigo told him making Marko nod his head as he quickly got up and out of his chair and over to a painting which he pulled form the wall opening the vault behind it. Returning with a large case he set it down on the desk. Tayuya instantly opened it showing the stacks of Ryo within flicking her hands over the bills counting it quickly she slammed the case shut gripped Marko by the tie he was wearing and slammed his face down on the desk holding him down by the throat.

"Fuck!" Marco shouted.

"That's what I should be saying you little fucker! You send us into a trap with A-class missing nin and this is what you fucking give us?" She growled holding his head down on the table. Ichigo simply smirked as he watched Tayuya 'negotiating skills'. "Now let's see, how much is your life worth to you? In this case there is four hundred thousand Ryo for a mission well done, bump it up to a million and I think we have a deal."

"Fuck you!" Marco shouted at her.

"Wrong answer." Reaching into her weapon's pouch she pulled out a kunai making, it's blade shimmering in the light above. "Tell me Marco-_kun._" Marco gulped at the sickly sweet tone in Tayuya's voice. "Which hand do you jerk off with?"

"Touch me and I'll have you fucking killed!" Marco shouted before Tayuya slammed her knee down onto his head holding him in place as she pulled his right arm up at an awkward angle running the blade of the kunai across the back of his hand drawing blood.

"Best have me killed then." Tayuya told him. "Because unless you don't give me that million Ryo, you can just watch the both of us walk out of here with all your money. It will be such a shame that while we're spending your hard earned cash we won't get to see all those people that you owe money too well you know, kill you. But alas, I think we can manage with ourselves right Ichigo?"

"I'm sure we can deal with it, Marco-san did always say money made people forget the troubles in the lives of others." Ichigo told her making a grin come to her face as she turned back to Marco.

"Fine fucking take it! Whatever it is you want just fucking take it!" Marco cried out making Tayuya huff as she removed her knee from his head and the kunai from his hand making him sigh as he lifted it up before Tayuya slammed his head back into the desk making him cry out in pain.

"Really unnecessary Tayuya, I'm beginning to think you enjoy hurting people." Ichigo told her.

"Only people who fuck me over." She grinned at him making him shake his head in amusement as they went about collecting the money. Having taken the bag he threw on the desk earlier Tayuya filling it with the money from the case and that was on the desk. "I think that's it. Nice doing business with you Marco." Tayuya said with a wave over her hand as they both headed for the door.

"Fuck you." Marco groan as he pulled a cigar from his desk and lit it up with a lighter that he placed on the desk. "I hope Orochimaru splits you open and removes your insides." Both Ichigo and Tayuya stopped as they turned back to Marco, Marco went pale as he saw the anger flash through their eyes. Tayuya went to rush forward before Ichigo held her back.

"I'll deal with it." Ichigo told her. "Wait outside."

"But..."

"I've got it." Ichigo told her making her nod as she glared at Marco before she turned and closed the doors but heard Ichigo ask a single question. "How much does Orochimaru know?" Before she closed the door leaving Ichigo within. She sighed as she hefted the bag up against the wall and crouched down with a sigh, it wasn't five minutes later that Ichigo came through the doors, fire burning uncontrollably within the room, the money that was in the room now alight with burning flames, Marco's decapitated head on his desk. "Let's go." Ichigo told her placing the metal hilt of his **Seele ****Schneider**back onto his belt behind his back.

"And you got up me for hitting him." Ichigo simple sent her a mock glare as she raised her hand up in defence. "What's the plan? How much did Orochimaru know?"

"Marco said he hadn't sent the information back yet, but Orochimaru's close to us. We have to go to Kumo, today."

"Fuck." Tayuya mumbled. "Six months and fucking nothing, now this prick had to go and fuck it up!" She growled under her breath. "I guess you have a plan on getting us into an alliance with Kumo?" Tayuya questioned.

"I've got an idea or two." Ichigo told her as they walked out of the building before one of the back rooms exploded. "We just have to make it to Kumo, then we can start on the next phase of the plan."

"Alliances." Ichigo nodded. "Man, I still can't wait." Tayuya smiled, she had been looking forward to having a nation under her control.

"Well it might take a while." Ichigo told her. "We still have to get the support of the Raikage, and to do that we have to get the Raikage to trust us enough to form an alliance with us, if it all works out we should be heading over to the Land of Snow in about four months, give or take."

"Yeah I know." She sighed. "But still, an entire nation under us." She smiled. "It's really something huh?" Ichigo simply shrugged. "You need to get more excited about stuff Ichigo."

"I'm a teenager, I'm not supposed to get excited about stuff." Ichigo chuckled making Tayuya shake her head in amusement as they left the burning remains of the building behind and exited the small town.

X-X

"Raikage-sama." Mabui bowed walking into the office of the Fourth Raikage, she was a dark-skinned young woman with green eyes. She wore very formal attire consisting of a long-sleeved, high-collared dress shirt and skirt, along with a pair of long earrings and sandals. She wore her light grey hair pulled back into a bun with two bangs that fall on either side of her face. A looked up from his desk, his hat resting on his head, his broad frame slouched over mountains of paperwork which he was still filling out as he looked up at Mabui.

"What is it?" A questioned. "I'm busy, if it's not important it can wait and I swear if it's B, throw him out of the village." He huffed in annoyance. "Is that idiot even back from his mission with those Genin of his?"

"No, not yet Raikage-sama, this does not involve B-sama, he is on the way back to the village from what I hear. However I would think this would be important enough to address right away Raikage-sama." Mabui told him making him frown as he tapped his pen on the paperwork he had been filling out.

"Fine, what is so important then?" He watched as Mabui walked to the door and opened it.

"Tayuya-san, Ichigo-san, please come in." A watched as two teenagers walked into his office fully decked out in white and blue clothing that almost resembled a uniform. He looked to Mabui who nodded and left the room as A went back to signing paperwork.

"What do you want?" He questioned as he pulled another page down in front of him.

"Raikage-sama." Ichigo bowed slightly. "We have come to offer you a proposal." He continued as A looked up at him slightly before going back to his paper work.

"Well, propose away." He told Ichigo. "I don't have all day, as you can see I'm a busy man and don't have much time on my hands. Get to it."

"We want to join your village in an alliance." Ichigo told him.

"You what?" He questioned looking up at the two. "You want an alliance with Kumo, one of the five great hidden villages?" He questioned them. "Why would I even think of allowing this, to you who seemingly have nothing to give in return for such an alliance? You're obviously not ninja so I can't induct us into our ranks, you have nothing to give to us. Get out." He said going back to his paper work.

"We've already been trained as shinobi Raikage-sama." Ichigo continued.

"We don't mane any alliances with missing nin, get out before I call for a hunting party." He informed them.

"We're not missing nin either, we were taught by Orochimaru of the Sannin, S-class missing nin from Konoha." Both watched as A stopped writing and looked up at them, dropping his pen in the process.

"Orochimaru?" Both nodded. "Do you have any proof?"

"We can inform you of anything you wish to know about Orochimaru." Tayuya said speaking up for the first time. "For six years we were trained underneath Orochimaru, we know where his hideouts are, his secrets, his plans for the future. Allow us to become your ally and we'll tell you everything on Orochimaru, just allow us to inform you of our plan."

"And why would I need to know about Orochimaru?" A questioned. "I have no need of an S-class missing nin, if anyone needs information on him it'd be Konoha, why not go and ally with them? I heard the Fourth Hokage is more welcoming then the other villages." He scoffed which was followed by Tayuya's own snort. "You've tried already?"

"Fuck no!" Tayuya told her making Ichigo inwardly groan, he pretty much ordered Tayuya to be respectful but it seems she was going her own way. "Who want's to join up with a pansy ass village like that? No the Fourth Hokage may be a genius but for years the damn council has been running the show." Tayuya told him with a huff.

"Haha!" A laughed heartedly. "I have to agree with you on that girl. Since the Third Hokage the council has been running the show behind the Hokage. He's more of just a political image then anything else." A continued.

"There is also something else Raikage-sama." Ichigo told him. "A way for you to ally with Konoha, something we can help with if you ally with us."

"Konoha want's nothing to do with any alliances with us. We've tried in the past but since..." A trailed off wandering if he should get into the details of such with the two.

"The Hyuuga incident." Ichigo suggested making A narrow his eyes slightly.

"Yes. Since the Hyuuga incident and several incidents in the past. They have forgone any alliances with us even under a new Kage." He told them. "They refuse to ally with us, so what makes you think you can turn that around?"

"It comes with the information on Orochimaru." Ichigo told him. "You accept our alliance with Kumo and we tell you everything, including the details on how you can ally yourself with Konoah so that it is settled before the Chunnin exams in three months time." A's eyes widened slightly before he regained his calm composure. "Do we have a deal Raikage-sama?" A stood up from his desk before walking around it and sitting on the edge, the two not even bothered by his large size.

"I don't believe that you're lying." A told them. "But if I find out that Orochimaru or anyone is hatching a scheme upon this village. I will crush them with the entire force I wield within this village and you two will be the first to fall." He warned them. "I don't have the time to deal with whatever schemes my enemies play and I have no mercy for those involved."

"Trust us." Tayuya told him. "We've got no love for that snake fucker. We never did, just under certain circumstances we ended up under him. Over six months ago we left. We took the opportunity and ran." A looked her over to see her irritated expression and he could tell by their eyes that they were being completely honest with him.

"An alliance goes both ways." A told them making Tayuya grin slightly but Ichigo held his calm visage. "What would you want from us to continue our alliances, if you do as you promise and the alliance between Kumo and Konoha goes through. What would you want from us in return? Not only that you would be giving information on Orochimaru which we could also give to Konoha to strengthen the alliance." Ichigo nodded in agreement. "So, what would this alliance cost me exactly?"

"An army." Ichigo told him making A raise an eyebrow.

"What would two brats need an army for." Tayuya's eyebrow twitched but she held herself back much to Ichigo being beside her and she knew that they needed this.

"The Land of Snow." Ichigo told him. "We want it." A raised an eyebrow at him as he turned to Tayuya to see that they were both serious in the matter.

"So let me get this straight." A said rubbing his forehead. "You give us an alliance with Konoha and you take over the Land of Snow? How does that benefit Kumo exactly apart from an alliance with Konoha?"

"The Land of Snow is the most technological advanced in the entire Elemental Nations." Tayuya spoke up making A nod in agreement. "No one, not even Kumo has an alliance with them, yet they are a strong nation, independent from others. Their technology makes them strong. When we have the Land of Snow, future productions can be shared with our allies."

"I see your point." A told them. "How can a couple of kids turn out like this?"

"Spend six years under Orochimaru and you think of ways to screw him over as much as possible." Tayuya smirked.

"Konoha gets stronger, Orochimaru gets hesitant, you get tech upgrades and stronger allies. We all get what we want." Ichigo told him. "Simple house us for a couple of months until everything gets sorted with Konoha so you can see that we're not making it up. Then, we can move onto the Land of Snow." A rubbed his chin as he thought it over.

"What can the two of you offer while here in our village." A questioned. "You were both trained under Orochimaru, so I'm assuming you have some shinobi skills."

"I'm a Genjutsu user, I have a summoning contract with the Doki clan, I have several ninjutsu under my belt that even Orochimaru didn't know I had learned thanks to Ichigo." She smiled lightly remembering Ichigo bringing her scrolls for her to learn instead of simply relying on her taijutsu and Genjutsu. "Also I've been studying medical ninjutsu for some time now."

"And you?" A questioned turning to Ichigo making Tayuya smirk.

"This guy's a fucking powerhouse." Tayuya told him.

"I have several skills that would benefit you Raikage-sama." Ichigo told him. "For one, my chakra signature is undetectable, even by the finest chakra sensors." A's eyes widened at that, sure he was no chakra sensor himself but he could sense it just the same. Eyeing Ichigo reaching out to sense his chakra his eyes widened, nothing. A smirk crossed Ichigo's face as he saw A's shocked expression. "A handful of ninjutsu which I'm still in the process of mastering, however that is not where my true power is. I have a separate case of skills which is my main arsenal."

"A Kekkei Genkai?" A questioned.

"Something like that." Ichigo told him with a nod. "I hail from a clan with the ability to manipulate a separate power within the body other then chakra, reiatsu. I also have a summons with a Hyena pack which are some of the best trackers in the elemental nations. Together both Tayuya and myself could stand toe to toe against a normal A-class shinobi. On our own I'd say we could go against teams of C-class perhaps a small team of B-class shinobi."

"Then I'd have to assume that you're both high chunnin rank shinobi." A mused it over. "This power you have, this Reiatsu." Ichigo nodded. "Is it possible to teach others?"

"_No it is not, one is born with high reiatsu levels, one does not earn the right, they are simply born with it."_ Juha sighed in irritation. _"There are only a few cases which one adapts high levels of teiatsu and even then it's not a common occurrence. Unless they have Quincy blood in them or have been attacked by a Hollow, which I highly doubt then no, it can not be taught."_

"No." Ichigo told him making A nod his head as he thought everything over. He looked the two over once more both looking highly formal with their strange uniforms.

"Very well, I accept your proposal." A told them watching as a wide smile formed on the red head's face as Ichigo let a smile smile grace his face. "But remember my warnings."

"Of course Raikage-sama." Ichigo bowed. "Now, for everything we promised you..."

X-X

"Hokage-sama, we have news from Kumo." A messenger said walking into the Hokage's office. Minato Namikaze looked up from his desk covered in paperwork and sighed. Kumo had been trying to negotiate terms of an alliance between the two villages for some time now. Minato would have been all for it however the council believed that there was two much bad blood between the two villages to form any kind of alliance and when ever it was brought up they would simply remind him of the events that recently occurred several years ago with the Hyuuga and the events that almost led Kushina his very own wife today to be almost taken from the village when she was a child.

Minato held his hand out making the messenger walk forward and handed the scroll to him before leaving the office. Minato opened the scroll up and his eyes widened as he read the letter through once before immediately starting again to make sure he had read it correctly. He didn't even hear as the door opened, Kushina and Naruko walking through with smiles on their faces.

"Minato-kun." Kushina smiled warmly at her husband but frowned when she saw that his attention was elsewhere. "Everything ok?" She questioned.

"I'm not exactly sure." Minato said lowering the scroll down onto his desk as he looked up at his daughter and his wife. "What brings you here at this time of day anyway?" He questioned with a small smile.

"It's about Naruto-kun." Kushina told him making Minato sigh but held off on his playful smirk, he already knew what his son had done, the Anbu had already reported it to him. "His habits... have reached a new level." Kushina sighed.

"I'm already aware." Minato told her.

"For someone who's just about to graduate the academy, he sure has a knack of acting very childish. I'm sure you've told him being a shinobi isn't what he use to think when he was a child." Kushina said making Minato chuckle nervously. "Minato-kun, you did tell our son it's not about just being a hero didn't you?" She questioned.

"Well you see Kushi-chan, I was going to then he made a new development in the Rasengan and we kind of got lost in his progress after that." Kushina's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as a tick mark started to form on her head, as Naruko chuckled nervously next to her mother but she couldn't deny that she had a point. This years graduating Genin weren't up to scratch with her Genin year and she had become a Genin two years before her own age group so when she was ten she was already doing D-rank missions she became a Chunnin at eleven and was getting ready to start her Jounin exams within the next few years, she hadn't rushed her ninja career like some others had simply wanting to progress at her own pace.

"Dad you know that half of Naruto-kun's class isn't going to be ready for the real shinobi world." Naruko said making Minato frown slightly, he knew that the younger generations were more laxed about what a true shinobi's capabilities were. Naruko had that knowledge from some experience she had with her team and her Sensei.

"Fine, I'll have a talk with him." Minato said.

"No, I'll do it." Kushina huffed folding her arms across her chest. "You'll just get lost in your son's ninjutsu progress again." Minato pouted at her making her mockingly glare at him. "Now, what was the message about?" Kushina questioned pulling the scroll off of Minato's desk making him sigh.

"You know if anyone found out you read the Hokage's mail before the council they'd have my hat." Minato told her.

"Good think that they don't found out then huh?" She questioned as she sat down, Naruko simply giggling lightly as she walked behind her father's desk and looked out over the village with a small smile as Kushina read over the letter. Minato walked up and placed a hand on Naruko's shoulder making her turn towards him.

"You alright?" Naruko nodded her head with a deep sigh, her shoulders slumping forward slightly.

"I don't even have memories of that night but still..." Minato frowned slightly knowing which night his daughter was talking of. "It still just freaks me out that something like that can exist you know."

"Yeah."

"Minato-kun, you can't be considering this." Kushina's voice made the two turn to the red head who was looking up from the scroll with wide eyes. "This isn't even remotely sane, even for you. If any of our allies find out about this, if the council finds out what you're even thinking of doing."

"I just received the scroll not five minutes before you came in, I haven't made a decision Kushina." Minato told her. "But if that information's true."

"It's Kumogakure for heaven's sake." Kushina told him. "A single meeting between you and the Raikage is just asking for a fight you know that."

"But what if it's true? What if he's telling the truth, no matter how hard the Raikage has tried in the past he has never once lied to form an alliance. I know that you hold a grudge for what happened." Minato said softly.

"I don't hold a grudge against Kumo, Minato, but only nine years ago did they try something like that again." Kushina told him making him sigh. "I know that forming an alliance with them would be a good decision, but remember. There is bad blood between Kumo and Konoha."

"I gave Sarutobi-sama my word." Kushina frowned slightly as she looked down at the ground away from her husbands eyes. "I gave him my word I'd stop Orochimaru, from where he saved my life he asked me to stop another. If he didn't do what he did Naruko-chan and Naruto-kun would have grown up without a father, I have to see for myself." Kushina frowned and turned away before looking back over her shoulder.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you, you're not going alone. The Raikage clearly stated that he was bringing two others with him, you're entitled to do the same." Kushina told him sternly.

"I'm in!" Naruko cheered.

"No." Both Minato and Kushina said at the same time.

"Why not! It will be like a family mission! Itachi-sensei can look after Naruto-kun for a few days! It's a plan! I'll go pack my bag and we'll leave in an hour!" She cheered running from the room with a grin on her face. Kushina and Minato sighed and glanced at one another.

"I guess... we're sneaking out of the village tonight." Minato sighed. "The council's going to be pissed."

"When aren't they?" Kushina huffed.


	7. Chapter 7

"So where are we going?" Naruko questioned as she walked beside her father, a bag on her back with her ninja supplies within. Kushina simply giggled as she saw how her daughter was pestering her husband from where she was walking beside her daughter, the trio of shinobi had been walking for the last couple of hours having left the village in the early hours of the morning before sunrise.

"We're heading to the meeting point with the Raikage." Minato told her. "We're not that far off now, I'm just glad we slipped out of the village without trouble." He said absent mindedly.

"You're lucky the Anbu trust you so much Minato-kun." Kushina told him. "However there is a squad following us, they shouldn't be a problem." Minato nodded in agreement.

"If they do become a problem we can just inform the Raikage that there was no other choice." Kushina nodded her head in agreement to her husbands statement.

"So what's this all about anyway? I thought Kumo wasn't going to become an ally with us?" Naruko questioned remembering what she had learned about the other villages.

"It's complicated Naruko-chan." Kushina told her. "But the Raikage has offered us some important information on Orochimaru, the S-class missing shinobi from our village, Jiraya-san has probably mentioned him once before." Naruko's eyes widened, she had heard about the Sannin that defected years ago, in her time as Jiraiya's apprentice she had learned about the two Sannin that once fought along side her mentor. "If the information turns out to be true, it's quite possible that an alliance with Kumo and Konoha will happen." Minato nodded his head in agreement to his wife.

"I just hope that this information on Orochimaru is something we can use." The blonde Hokage told them to which Kushina nodded her head. "Naruko-chan." Naruko looked up at her father to see his eyes were hard as they looked over the road. "When we meet with the Raikage, let's not do anything to hasty alright?"

"You're making it sound like I'm some kind of hot head Dad." Naruko pouted. "I'm not Naruto-kun." Minato just chuckled lightly.

"We're close." Kushina said making Minato nod in agreement, however both found it odd. They could only detect two people, one was clearly the Raikage with his high chakra levels and the other seemed to be much much lower, possibly a low Jounin probably around the same level as Naruko if not stronger, however there was no signature of a third person like the Raikage's note had mentioned.

Kushina sent a look to Minato who nodded in agreement, he sent four of his special three pronged kunai to the surrounding trees before the three stopped and began to wait. It wasn't long before they could hear the approaching group. Minato seemed confident, Kushina looked a little tense while Naruko didn't know how to really feel about the current situation that they were about to walk into.

"... I'm just saying, a bath isn't that bad from time to time." A girls voice called out.

"You've never had a bath in the entire time I've known you." Another voice called out, Naruko could of sworn she had heard the voices somewhere before. "Is this about this morning?"

"Shut up." The girl huffed before a grunt of annoyance came from another stopping both of them chatting. Naruko stepped forward making Kushina look to Minato who was just as surprised as she was as their daughter walked forward. "Ichigo you're such an ass, who cares that I took an hour in the bathroom?"

"You told me you'd be ten minutes! And I have no idea why you took your flute in the bath, I didn't hear you playing it!"

"Kurosaki-san?" Naruko whispered to herself slightly surprised that she had recognised the voice after six months. _"__What is he and Tayuya-san doing here?"_

"Bite my ass! I was relaxing! Unlike some people who just won't stay still for ten minutes!" A loud sigh reached their ears. "Don't take that attitude with me! I ought to kick your ass!"

"Would you two knock it off. We're here." A gruff voice broke the two's argument as they walked around the bend seeing the three Konoha shinobi. As she saw the familiar orange hair and white uniform a grin spread across Naruko's face as she recognised the face of the teen beneath his hat and the red head standing beside him in a similar uniform to Ichigo's own.

"Kurosaki-san! Tayuya-san!" Naruko waved making both of them look up at her in surprise. "It's good to see you again!" She called out with a smile surprising Kushina and Minato.

"Naruko-chan, nice to see you as well." Ichigo waved back not noticing the twitch in Tayuya's eyebrow as Ichigo walked forward up to Naruko who was blushing at the suffix he had used with her name. Naruko smiled happily up at him as he stood only a few feet from her.

"What are you doing here Kurosaki-san?" Naruko questioned tilting her head to the side. "Last I saw of you, you were heading North."

"It's nice to know that you were paying attention Naruko-chan." Ichigo smiled before he rose his hand up and gestured to the Raikage that was eyeing them. "As you can see, we made it to the North or more precise. Kumogakure." Naruko's eyes widened slightly at that. "We didn't mean to deceive you if that's what you're thinking Naruko-chan, we just didn't bring it up as all, both Tayuya and myself are shinobi and were looking for a place to fit in is all." Ichigo explained to her.

"A Shinobi?" Minato questioned warily. "If you're a shinobi my wife should be at least be able to detect some chakra from you." He said. "Even a civilian has a trace of chakra within them." Ichigo glanced past Naruko to see Minato and Kushina eyeing him warily, both ready to fight in a moments notice however the girl standing before Ichigo was what was holding them back, in an instant it could turn into a hostage situation.

"Ah, Hokage-sama. Kushina-san." Ichigo bowed slightly as Naruko stepped to the side, the smile never leaving her face. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the two of you. I've heard stories of your skills." He greeted.

"How is it that you know our daughter?" Minato asked, his eyes hardening slightly which Naruko caught immediately.

"Dad!" Naruko whined. "It's not like that! Stop making a big deal about every boy that I know!" She said stamping her foot making Ichigo crack a slight smirk before he felt Tayuya's boot hit him in the back of the head making him face plant into the ground from the strength of the throw.

"Dick weed! Shut up! We're here for a reason!" Tayuya shouted angrily glaring at Ichigo who was in the process of sitting up rubbing his head as he looked up at Tayuya who was marching over to him with one boot off. "Or have you forgotten already!?"

"Tayuya-san, it's good to see you." Naruko smiled happily at the red head making her stop in her march to collect her boot to look at Naruko who was still smiling at her.

"Oh yeah, right what ever." Tayuya mumbled as Ichigo stood up and tossed her boot to her. Tayuya pulled on the boot over her stocking clad foot and up her thigh. "You're that brat that we met a while back right?" She questioned with an irritated look on her face, knowing full well who Naruko was.

"Brat!?" Naruko questioned her eyebrow twitching as the red head gained a smirk on her face. The two began an argument about who was older, however the duo were the same age however Naruko was a few months older then Tayuya which only seemed to piss the red head off even more. Ichigo simply watched from the sidelines as A made his way over to Minato and Kushina. The four simply watched as Tayuya and Naruko got in one another's faces.

"Well... it seems Naruko-chan has some friends she didn't tell us about." Kushina hummed out loud in thought.

"Raikage-dono." Minato greeted with a slight bow.

"Hokage." A gruffed out. "This isn't a formal meeting and we won't be having one for some time I imagine, this is simple coincidence that we happen to be passing one another by and simply exchanging words with one another." A told him making Kushina frown as he didn't even look in her direction. Minato nodded as the Raikage looked around before gesturing for them to follow him.

"Naruko-chan, let's go." Kushina called out making the red head and blonde look up to see the three adults walking into the trees. Naruko turned back to Tayuya and glared slightly as the red head fixed her hat and dusted herself off slightly.

"Mummy's calling you brat." Tayuya told her with a smirk making Naruko growl at her.

"Would you to knock it off." Ichigo huffed out as he placed a hand on his hat, tipping the front up slightly with his finger as he placed his other hand in his pocket. "You said it yourself Tayuya, we're here for a reason after all." Tayuya simply scowled and nodded her head as she followed Ichigo into the trees after the Raikage.

"Hey Kurosaki-san, you and Tayuya-san must be pretty close huh?" Naruko questioned as the trio walked after the adults, Tayuya simply turning her attention away from the blonde however kept close enough to hear what Ichigo's answer would be.

"Why would you say that Naruko-chan?" Ichigo questioned turning his attention to the blonde.

"Well you don't use a suffix with her name. So you must be pretty close right?" Ichigo cocked an eyebrow as he turned to Tayuya who was seemingly uninterested.

"Naruko-chan, if I dared tried to call Tayuya with a suffix I'd wake up with my kidney missing." Ichigo smiled making Tayuya chuckle. "But I guess you're right in a sense, for over six years we've been together." He told her.

"Has it really been that long?" Tayuya questioned turning back to Ichigo who thought for a moment.

"Yeah I'm sure it's been that long, probably closing in on seven years now." Ichigo summarised making Tayuya nod with a slight smile. "So yeah I guess you could say we're close."

"Almost like a brother and sister would you say?" Naruko questioned making Tayuya stop dead in her tracks, her teeth clenched together as she turned and saw Naruko's smirking face, however Ichigo was silent, both girls turned back to him to see his head lowered, his hat shading his face.

"I wouldn't say that." Ichigo told her which surprised both Naruko and Tayuya at how emotionless his voice was, the two looked at one another after Ichigo had continued to walk forward before Tayuya hardened her eyes and glared at the blonde.

"You pissed him off you damn bitch." Naruko's eyebrow twitched before the duo began another argument amongst themselves. Ichigo stepped out of the trees to see the Hokage, Raikage and Kushina waiting for them. Ichigo simply walked off to the side, his foul mood having been brought up at the mention of siblings. He sat down beside a tree, propping his knees up and resting his arms up on them as he closed his eyes not caring for the stares the three adults were giving him.

"_They would be eleven this year."_ Ichigo thought to himself. _"Karin, Yuzu they've both grown up without me. I wonder how they turned out, how the old man is doing, I wonder if they're still in Karakura Town, living at the clinic."_ He let out a small sigh knowing it was no point in even thinking these thoughts.

"_It's a normal reaction to feel this way after losing your family."_ Ichigo's face turned into a scowl, his eyes still closed. _"I know that I'm to blame for this."_

"_I've told you before, there is nothing we can do about it now. What's done is done."_ The old man within his mind simply remained quiet. _"It's not like I'll ever see you for real anyhow, you're just a phantom. You don't get to feel regret."_ Ichigo told him harshly. He could hear Tayuya's footsteps as she approached before sitting down next to him, he could hear the conversation being held by Minato and A about the information they had given on Orochimaru.

Tayuya was quiet next to him but he could tell that there was something she wanted to say but neither had the intention of brining the subject to light while there were so many strangers around. They even considered the Raikage to be a stranger, a simple hurdle that they needed to overcome in the scheme of things.

It was sometime later that Ichigo opened his eyes again, having retreated to his inner world to stare off into the blue city that was once his home. When he opened his eyes he saw that Tayuya was simply cleaning her flute to pass the time of the meeting between the Raikage and Hokage. Naruko and Kushina were also seated however across from one another speaking quietly. Minato and A were both standing, having moved away from everyone to discuss the matters in private.

"Think it will work?" Tayuya questioned looking down her flute before glancing at Ichigo who tilted his hat up and looked up into the trees.

"Honestly? Not a clue." Ichigo told her making her eyes widen. "If it doesn't Kumo's throwing us out on our asses and the Land of Snow is just that much farther away." He sighed. "I doubt we could raise an army just the two of us, an army costs money we don't have. So it will take over a year of us simply attacking in intervals that would weaken the Land of Snow until we could practically take over by force." He said taking his hat off and running a hand through his hair.

"Ichigo." Tayuya said making him glance at her from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong with you? Ever since earlier you've been distant. You're not like this, not ever." She told him making him lower his gaze.

"It's... it's a long story Tayuya." Ichigo told her.

"Tell it to me." She said leaning back into the tree as she slouched back slightly looking up at him.

"Another time Tayuya, when we're sitting in the capital of the Land of Snow next to a large fire that warms the room." Ichigo smiled lightly making Tayuya smile back at him and nod her head in agreement.

"I'll hold you to it Ichigo." Ichigo nodded in agreement as the two went back to simply waiting. Naruko was looking over her shoulder at the two with a slight frown on her face. She had instantly felt that when she brought the relationship up between the two that she had crossed a line with Ichigo, sure she did it slightly to get on the red head's nerves but she never expected the orange haired teen to react in such a way.

"Naruko-chan?" Kushina questioned making the blonde look back at her mother.

"Hmm?" She hummed out.

"You still haven't told me how you met them." Kushina told her, Naruko pursed her lips up remembering the first time she had met Ichigo and Tayuya over six months ago when she had gone with Jiraiya to pick up some document from a contact.

"Well..." Naruko started before both heard the footsteps of the Raikage and Minato and both stood up, a scowl on A's face as a small frown was on Minato's as they approached. A shot Ichigo and Tayuya a look making Ichigo stand up and for Tayuya to follow, scowling in the process at what the Raikage's own scowl meant.

"Dad? What happened?" Naruko questioned.

"Everything that the Raikage has informed me of was in Jiraiya-sensei's last report." Minato told them. "He had entered one of Orochimaru's recently used hideouts and found everything."

"Fuck." Tayuya mumbled beneath her breath however Ichigo seemed to be at ease somehow, this only pushed there plans back even further. She glanced up to see him trying to hold back a small smirk making her raise an eyebrow. "Ichigo?"

"There will be no Alliance between Kumogakure and Konoha." Minato told them. A simply huffed and began to walk for the road once more to return to his village.

"A." The Raikage stopped dead at Ichigo's voice, it wasn't what he was use to from hearing from the teen, he was always polite, respectful. Never had he heard anything like this come from his mouth, filled with so much authority. "Just a moment."

"Our deals off brat, you couldn't hold your end of the deal up." A told him. "You've got nothing left to offer." He said turning to Ichigo only to see the smirk resting on his face as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I told you I'd gain you an Alliance with Konoha." Reaching into his coat he pulled out a scroll and threw it to the Raikage. "Think of it as a gift for our future alliance with one another." A rose an eyebrow at the orange haired teen and then at the storage scroll before flooding it with chakra getting a puff of smoke before throwing the scroll away to reveal a handful of documents. A began to read through the documents as everyone was quiet as he read, his eyes widening as he read the files over.

"Why didn't you bring this up earlier?" A questioned snapping the file shut and looking up at Ichigo.

"It's good to have a Plan B." Ichigo told him with the same smirk. A looked to Tayuya to see even that the redhead didn't know what he was holding in his hand and from what he knew of the two, they shared practically everything with one another. A turned to Minato and held the files out to him making Minato walk forward and took it from him, eyeing Ichigo warily.

"Why not give it to Konoha yourself?" Minato questioned as he held the documents in his hand, the smirk never leaving Ichigo's face.

"Simple really." Ichigo told him with a shrug. "I don't want an alliance with you, I want one with him." He gestured to A. "Kumo gave you the information, not me, I simply gave it to them." Minato frowned but looked over the documents and opened them up, a shocked expression covering his face as he looked everything over and he stared wide eyed at Ichigo.

"How did you get this?" Minato questioned making Kushina frown and walk forward to her husband who handed the documents to her and she began to read it over.

"Simple." Ichigo told him once more a grin replacing the smirk. "I helped Orochimaru plan the entire invasion on Konoha, we were under Orochimaru's care for six years after all." Everyone's bar Tayuya's eyes widened at that, a simple smile coming to the red head teens face as she understood Ichigo's plan.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone stared at the two teens, A simply remaining stoic already knowing that the two worked beneath Orochimaru and having been taught by him. He knew in the few days that he knew the two young shinobi that they had no kindness in their hearts for the Ex-Sannin of Konoha, however the reason he was surprised was that Ichigo was announcing that he had helped plan the entire invasion, that he did not know only having learnt about the invasion from the documents he had just looked over.

As soon as Minato heard the words come from the teens mouth his eyes immediately hardened as he glared at Ichigo. Kushina was frowning as she saw Naruko's eyes widened in surprise and shock, to hear someone you considered your friend to say something like that, it was sure to come as a shock. Itachi had taught her the right way within learning all the aspects of the shinobi way, however she had never experienced true betrayal before she was still young and had a lot to experience.

"Well fuck Ichigo." Tayuya sighed removing her hat and running a hand through her red hair which she pulled down over her shoulder before placing her hat back on. "Some warning next time maybe. Who knows how they could of reacted, I could of needed time to defend myself. Who knows what these crazy fuckers would do." Ichigo simple glanced at her from the corner of his eye to see her with an amused expression. "But I guess you've never one to stay hidden, you were all white for fuck's sake."

"So do you Tayuya." Ichigo told her glancing down at the red head. "And I wear it as a handicap, you wear it as a fashion statement." Tayuya glared at him slightly making him shake his head in amusement. "But I guess with everything in the future, wearing white will just make everything seem routine I might have to change the colour to black for the handicap." Tayuya instantly scowled at that.

"Black doesn't suit you Ichigo, make it blue or some other colour, not black it's too depressing." She huffed. "You start wearing black, I'll start calling you an Emo." Ichigo chuckled lightly as he nodded. "And I swear to Kami." She said pointing at Naruko half heartedly but still looking at Ichigo. "You start wearing orange I'll castrate you in your sleep."

"Alright, fine, no black and no orange." Ichigo told her before looking up to A who was giving them a dead panned stare. He chuckled sheepishly as he glanced at the Raikage, for the last six months it had just been Tayuya and himself, they often just drifted away from others in conversation that had nothing to do with the situation they were in. On numerous occasions they would start a conversation while in the middle of a battle, sometimes it was over who was cooking that night, other times it was random ideas either had for future events.

"You were both under Orochimaru?" Minato questioned making both teens roll their heads to stare at him, any trace of emotion having left both of their faces, both sets of eyes lifeless and cold as they stared at him only making Minato harden his gaze as he looked at the two trained killing machines. Staring at the teens they showed what Konoha's recent generations of shinobi lacked, a breed of true shinobi that would grow powerful in the future, shinobi that would take orders and not question them, shinobi that would kill just because they were told too with no mercy for who they were assigned to kill.

True shinobi.

His questioned had been answered with a simple look, only someone like Orochimaru could make them like this.

"All the information I gathered on Orochimaru came from the both of them." A spoke up making Minato turn to him. "You even said that Jiraiya-san had gathered the same information from one of Orochimaru's bases just recently." Minato nodded in agreement as he thought on what to do with everything that had been brought before him.

"How do we even know that this information is true, sure the information they had given you earlier was true but this could be a trap." Kushina spoke up making A turn to her slightly to see her holding the file up. "Even if it is true, there is no telling how old this information is. Orochimaru's plan's could of changed." Tayuya snorted at that making Kushina turn her gaze to the younger red head. "Something you'd like to add Tayuya-san?" Kushina questioned having remembered the other red head's name from Naruko's earlier greeting of the two.

"The snake fuck's been planning the invasion even before we were roped into his tutelage. With everything being so close to the actual invasion and us having only left Orochimaru's company several months ago I doubt anything drastic has changed." Tayuya told her.

"Plus Kushina." Ichigo told her, his emotionless voice shocking everyone, even the way he had spoken to A had been different and held an authority of respect, however the way he spoke to Kushina didn't seem any different as though he spoke to some kind of rabid dog. "Orochimaru's the one who'd take it as a challenge, to see how far Tayuya and myself have come after leaving him before eventually trying to persuade us to rejoin him by offering us power."

"We have no intention of returning to the bastard." Tayuya told them. "We've spent a majority of our lives serving him, we don't want to any more." She continued. "Take it or leave it, either way it doesn't effect us in any way, it will just postpones future plans."

"Future plans?" Kushina questioned wandering what the two teens could possibly have planned.

"That's no concern of Konoha." Ichigo told them. "Now if you'll kindly get on with your meeting, It's a long trip back to the Land of Lightning." He said turning to A.

"I agree." A nodded turning to Minato. "So what is your decision." Minato frowned as Kushina handed him the documents and he read them over once more.

"If I allow this alliance, could I expect Kumo to aid us in the invasion?" Minato questioned.

"As long as you're willing to allow us access to this years chunnin exams." A told him. "My shinobi over the years have only been able to advance through the ranks during field missions and in the last six years three of the chunnin exams have been held in Konoha with Kumo being alienated from each for our past discretions."

"Can you blame us Raikage-sama?" Kushina questioned with a bite to her tone.

"I'll admit." A told her. "In the past we have made our mistakes." Kushina simply folded her arms but remained silent. "An Alliance between our two countries would be beneficial for each." Minato nodded his head in agreement, both could offer a lot to one another.

However there were two things nagging at him and they were the two teens that the Raikage had brought with him. They didn't wish to ally themselves with Konoha, only Kumo. That only piqued his interest on what the two had planned for the future. He glanced to his wife who was frowning and then to Naruko who had her head down, not knowing what to say to the two who she had considered friends, even if only a little. Walking forward he held out his hand to A who took it.

"We will accept." Minato told him. "It's long overdue."

"That it is." A nodded in agreement. "Thank you." Minato nodded. "For now, I suggest we keep everything quiet. Orochimaru will be expecting something at the Chunnin exams, however I doubt he'll be expecting a completely new alliance between two nations."

"I agree." Minato smiled. "We shall set it up as we're accepting Kumo on trial to the Chunnin exams, if you don't mind at all Raikage-dono." A simply huffed, not pleased that the pasts discretions would be used as a cover but at this point there was no avoiding it. A nodded to the decision as he turned his attention to Tayuya and Ichigo.

"Those two will be attending the exams under Kumo's name." The Raikage told them making Tayuya's head shoot up slightly. "Since they have no rank, I'll make them Genin of my village and they can aid in the battle, I'll set them up with one of my Jounin and another Genin for the exam." Minato turned his eyes to the two and frowned slightly, it would be disadvantageous to the other genin, but being a shinobi you had to adapt to every situation that could arise, it could be apart of the test itself, however with what he has seen of the two it could be dangerous.

"Very well." Minato nodded. "Tayuya-san, Ichigo-san." Minato said turning to them. "I'm grateful for everything you have given to our village." He bowed to the two teens.

"We didn't give anything to you." Ichigo told him. "Raikage-sama did."

"_They really want nothing to do with an alliance with Konoha, going so far to even make a point of not giving any information to us directly."_ Minato thought. "Perhaps one day you might be willing to join in an alliance with Konoha yourselves." He suggested to them, if Kumo was allying with them then they must of had a reason, did they have other forces with them or were they offering Kumo something in return?

"Tch, doubt it." Tayuya huffed as she turned on her heel and began to walk away. Ichigo simply tilted his hat up with his finger and bowed slightly in farewell before heading off into the trees after the red head.

"Those are some scary kids Raikage-dono." Minato chuckled nervously as the two disappeared into the trees.

"They walked into my office and without hesitation made an offer." A said looking in the direction the two teens had walked off in. "In the years to come I don't doubt they will make an even bigger name for themselves."

"Bigger name?" Kushina questioned confused at the Raikage's statement.

"Within the Land of Lighting they are highly renowned mercenaries that took down half of the criminal underground that even some of my elite jounin could not infiltrate." A explained.

"Being brought up by a criminal probably made them fit right in." Kushina frowned slightly, sorrow in her tone at how two children were raised. "Blood has stained both of their hands."

"Blood stains all of our hands Kushina-chan." Minato frowned as he turned to Naruko who hadn't even watched the two leave, her fists at her sides shaking.

X-X

"Man I could really go for a dip in a hot spring!" Tayuya yawned stretching her arms out over her head. "How about it Ichigo, want to make a detour somewhere that has hot springs?" Ichigo glanced from the corner of his eye at the red head to see her looking at him with a questioning gaze.

"I don't see why not, if we're back in Kumo in two months we shouldn't have anything to worry about. It'll give us a month to get familiar with a new team member for the exams and everything should play out from there." Ichigo told her making her grin widen before both turned to A who was walking slighting in front of them.

"Go, you'll just be a pain in my ass until then. You're not apart of our village yet and your not obliged to stay within the village, as long as you're back in two months I don't see the problem." A told them. "I have to hand it to you both, I never expected that Kumo would actually gain an alliance with Konoha. You certainly delivered on your end. However, everything will be decided at the exams. As long as you're telling the truth, the alliance between our two villages will happen and then I'll work on helping you take over the Land of Snow."

"We appreciate it." Ichigo told him. "I guess we'll talk about it more after the exams." A nodded his head.

"You sure you're going to be able to get back to the village on your own?" Tayuya smirked at the large man making him glare down at her.

"Just go enjoy your damn springs before I change my mind you brats." Tayuya simply laughed before both launched into the trees leaving the Kage behind. He shook his head before making his way along the road leaving the duo to themselves. He could tell by Tayuya's chakra that they were already a fare distance away, however one thing was for sure, they weren't heading to any hot springs that he knew of.

Tayuya landed on the tree branch that Ichigo was standing on before both descended to the ground below. With a thud both let out a tired sigh as they glanced at one another.

"I hate dealing with people that are so serious all the time." Tayuya huffed as she began to walk along side Ichigo. "And what was with the idiot blonde that kept asking us questions like it was his damn business?"

"It was only natural, the Hokage wanted to know where he got his information from is all." Ichigo shrugged. "Either way it's done now." Tayuya nodded her head in agreement. "Naruko seemed upset."

"Don't you mean Naruko-_chan_?" Tayuya questioned with a slight glare at him making Ichigo chuckle in amusement before Tayuya huffed in annoyance. "She's a shinobi, shinobi have to deal with deception if she can't take it she's not fit to be a shinobi." Tayuya told him making him shrug. "Now are you sure about this?"

"About what?" Ichigo asked.

"About what we're going to do now? I know it was my idea and all but I'm sure there are other ways we can go about doing this." She told him.

"It was a good idea, when we're in control of the Land of Snow it will be good to have trade routes already set up between nations. Our main priorities will be to Kumo them being our strongest allies and all." Tayuya nodded in agreement. "But that doesn't mean we can't set up different franchises with different nations."

"But this guy?" Tayuya asked.

"He's a businessman, sure he may be a down right sick degenerate but he's one of the most powerful businessmen in the Elemental Nations because he's good at what he does and with everything he does behind the scenes..." Ichigo shrugged.

"He could sell to our enemies though." Tayuya reasoned with him.

"Who said we're going to give him properly working merchandise?" Ichigo questioned with a slight smirk making Tayuya chuckle lightly. "Gato is a criminal through and through, from drugs, slaves, prostitution and murder, everything you could possibly do wrong he's done it and honestly I don't care what he's done. I know for a fact that if we give him good merchandise he'll do what he's doing to the Land of Waves to the Land of Snow within the first year. But how is he meant to overthrow us if he has shinobi breathing down his neck for selling him faulty merchandise with no proof that the merchandise was faulty?"

"So we sell him advanced weapons at full price, which he then sells at full price, only for the ninja to come back and kill him?" Tayuya questioned. "What's the point of doing that then?"

"Someone has to take over his company when he's dead, sure... maybe just a bit of persuasion on your side to make him sign the company over to us might be needed but hey I'm sure you wouldn't mind." Ichigo shrugged. "Although we should probably rename it from Gato Company." Tayuya looked up at him in disbelief before she shook her head in amusement.

"How you come up with these plans I'll never know, and I'm sure I won't be using my feminine charms." She told him with a smirk already knowing what Genjutsu she could put the man under. "Although there is one problem." The red head told him.

"Hmm what's that?" Ichigo questioned.

"Orochimaru, with how much activity we'd be doing he'd surely catch on to us. There is no way that this invasion of Konoha will be the end of the bastard." Ichigo nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm sure Orochimaru will have more important things on his mind after the invasion then tracking the two of us down. One would be that Konoha will be looking for him in force after the invasion, so he'd probably clear out to a country that wouldn't be the Land of Fire or the Land of Lightning, he'd probably go to the Land of Wind seeing as his current _alliance_ with Suna."

"I see your point." Tayuya nodded as she rose her hand to her chin and rubbed it in thought. She glanced up at the orange haired teen walking beside her and smiled lightly. "So this is where it truly starts?" She questioned making him look down at her.

"It's been a long time huh?" He questioned.

"I wouldn't call six months a long time but yeah, with everything we've done between then and now. It's taken it's time." She nodded in agreement as Ichigo placed a hand on her hatted head making her pout up at him. "What?" She huffed out in annoyance.

"I'm really glad you came with me so long ago Tayuya." He told her making her eyes widen and her cheeks redden slightly she quickly looked away to hide her embarrassment.

"Idiot."


	9. Chapter 9

"So this hunk of shit is the Land of Waves?" Tayuya questioned gesturing to the village ahead as the duo stepped onto land from the water having walked across the large plain of ocean between the small country of the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire having left the Raikage a little under a week ago.

"Gato's been running it into the ground for some time now, can't expect much from it." Ichigo told her in response as they began to walk up the bank towards the village that was just up ahead. When they reached the top and stepped onto the path they instantly set up emotionless masks, if they showed any kind of kindness it wouldn't go well for them.

They were instantly recognised as outsiders, their uniforms showing that they had money lots of money, which barely anyone in the Land of Waves had, even the leaders of the land had little money. Walking down a dirty street beggars tried to plead with the duo to give them anything they could spare but were ignored. Stopping at the end of the village they looked back and both scowled before walking into the mist filled forests of the Land of Waves.

Heading deeper into the trees they could already sense the numerous thugs watching them, they weren't shinobi, far from it, just run of the mill thugs who were easy to buy but could only hold themselves against civilians at best. They were at least smart enough to leave the two shinobi alone. It wasn't long before they got to where they were heading too, Gato's hideout. Out the front was what one could consider a small army of thugs carrying all types of weapons in all manners of dress. Both Ichigo and Tayuya stopped a few meters away from the first group and looked them over.

"Fuck off, you no good villagers should just die already." A thug called out. "You got no business here."

"Fucking pricks." Tayuya mumbled as she pushed the bill of her cap up. "Where's Gato, we got some things to deal with."

"How about you friend fucks off and we give you a private meeting babe!" Another called out causing others to laugh in response several cat calls going out making Tayuya scowl in annoyance.

"I always had a thing for red heads! How much you charge baby!?" Another laughed. Ichigo watched as Tayuya's hands clenched into fists, anger radiating from her body making Ichigo sigh. Raising his left hand up his sleeve pulling back slightly revealing his Quincy cross before a blow glow started to form in his hand revealing his **Kojaku** making Tayuya take a step back nervously. She had seen how destructive Ichigo's Quincy powers had been in the past. She never wanted to get caught in the cross fire and still Ichigo told her he still hadn't perfected it to it's utmost potential, his bow still being in it's first stage of it's evolution.

Raising his right hand up he pulled back the blue spiritual string and arrow back to his chin, she could see the thugs getting up ready to attack as a small glowing ball of blue light started to form at the tip of the spiritual arrow which only grew in size as Ichigo held the arrow back his face as calm as ever as shouts of aggression were heard. Tayuya watched Ichigo's face before she saw him scowl as the arrow he had pulled back flared outwards over his arm before the build up at the front of the bow before it seemed it was all released at once.

Ichigo's hand was a blur within the glow over his arm as hundreds of arrows went sailing into the large group of thugs, screams of pain could be heard as the reiatsu filled arrows struck their targets with deadly accuracy. As the last of the volley came to a stop Ichigo lowered his hand the bow disappearing as the large cloud of smoke began to disappear.

"Damn, only seven hundred and forty two." Ichigo mumbled out as he rose his hand, his fingers bleeding slightly making Tayuya frown as she saw the cut's already beginning to heal over. Pulling out a cloth from his pocket Ichigo wiped his hands from his own blood as he began to walk forward into the mass of bodies that littered the ground.

"You usually can get up to eight hundred." Tayuya added as she followed him.

"I know." Ichigo agreed. "I'm still perfecting it, even with eight hundred it's not perfect." Tayuya nodded having heard that when he did perfect it that he would be able to shoot twelve hundred in a single continued volley. "Guess when we get to Kumo we should get training again, in the last six months we've been slacking a bit." He told her.

"Just a little." Tayuya chuckled lightly as they walked up the steps walking through the open door that had been smashed open in Ichigo's volley of spiritual arrows. Within there were only more thugs who were all cowering a few of the unlucky ones having been behind the door when the volley of arrows had struck and had been hit.

"Gato in?" Tayuya questioned with a smirk. A door to the side opened and both Ichigo and Tayuya glanced at it to see a small man walk out in a business suit a cigar in his mouth. Walking forward without any fear that the thugs were showing he walked to a desk and sat down behind it looking at the duo.

"Get out, the lot of you." Gato said and the thugs immediately went running not wanting to be in the presence of the two. "And clean that mess up outside!" He roared biting through his cigar in the process causing it to fall from his mouth. "It is so hard to get good help these days." Gato sighed as he pulled open a draw and pulled out a box of cigars. "Care to tell me why you just butchered half of my men?" He asked pulling a cigar from the box and placing it in his mouth before striking a match.

"Gato-san." Ichigo greeted with a slight bow. "By no means did we mean to disrespect you. Just your employee's insinuated that my friend here would simply service them. You should really instruct a better work ethic within your company." Tayuya was holding a smirk back, both had learned over the years under Orochimaru how to act in certain circumstances, one minute they could be gracious hosts and being welcomed into your home and then the next they could be slitting your throat while you slept. Deception was a shinobi's greatest tool. Gato simply looked the two over behind his glasses eyeing the two suspiciously.

"You didn't answer my question." Gato told him lighting his cigar with the match. "You're shinobi, I can see that clear as day, I have full knowledge you didn't kill my men simply because they offended you. If you're looking for a bounty you'll find none here." Ichigo simply smiled.

"Gato-san you are a very smart man." Ichigo chuckled lightly. "Indeed we are shinobi, however we have no affiliation to any village. Simply wanderers with plans in our future." Gato simply listened to him as he perched his hands up on his desk and laced his fingers together. "I killed them simply because I wanted to show you that we are serious." Ichigo told him, his smile disappearing.

"Serious about what Shinobi-san?" Gato questioned. "I already told you, there are no bounty's here."

"We're not here for bounties." Tayuya told him making Gato turn to her as both took off there hats and held them under their arms making Gato's eyes widen as he got a good look at their faces.

"You're nothing but a bunch of kids." Tayuya's eyebrow twitched in annoyance but she remained quiet.

"As that may be Gato-san." Ichigo said walking forward towards the desk where he pulled out a chair and took a seat. "We have a slight proposition for you." He told Gato who instantly went into business mode and listened to everything the two teens had to say. As they came to wrap up everything a woman brought the three tea to which they took happily, the three had been talking business for a good few hours now.

"As you can see Gato-san, you'd be losing nothing and if it all goes to plan gaining a lot." Tayuya told him.

"I can see where you two are coming from." Gato nodded leaning back in his chair before pushing the box of cigars forward but both shook their heads at the offer. "You think that within the next seven months the Land of Snow will be under you rule?"

"Yes." Ichigo told him. "With out a doubt, if everything in the coming months goes to plan then yes. We will control the most technological advanced nation and we want to set up a trade supply with your company." Gato rubbed his chin in thought, the offer was certainly tempting.

"And what would you want in return for this trade? I'm sure you'd be willing to negotiate but what would you want other then money? I haven't heard a single thing that either of you require." Gato told them.

"Simple." Tayuya told him. "Connections to other trade supplies that you have your own connections to. The Land of Snow isn't known for it's trade supplies. It keeps everything it has locked up, not sharing any of it. We'd change that, to an extent of course." Tayuya told him.

"Giving too much can cause problems." Gato agreed understanding Tayuya's statement. "The world is a greedy place, everyone wants something someone else has. You start supplying weapons in bulk to certain countries their enemies will attack you." Ichigo nodded his head in agreement. Gato looked at the two and saw how serious they were about this and he grinned, he didn't have anything to lose. "Alright, you two do what you say and I'll set up trade with the Land of Snow." Gato grinned.

"Deal." Ichigo offered his hand which Gato immediately shook before Tayuya offered her own and Gato shook hers as well.

"Gato-sama!" A voice shouted making the three turn to the door seeing a man breathing heavy as if he had just ran ten miles. "It's that damn wannabe hero again! He set fire to the docks!" Gato growled making the thug gulp nervously.

"Well get out there and stop the fire and kill him already!" Gato roared slamming his hands down on the desk making the man run off.

"Problems Gato-san?" Ichigo questioned making Gato turn to him. "Maybe something we can help you with?" Gato looked at the two before a large smirk covered his features.

"I actually think there might be..."

X-X

"Man, it just seems like we're doing the same shitty jobs that we did for the snake fucker." Tayuya mumbled as she sat in the tree watching the path, her back up against the trunk. "Kill this, steal that, butcher that village, set fire to this establishment." She sighed in annoyance. "The list goes on, sure we're good at it but for fucks sake ya get sick of it." She mumbled pulling her knee up to her chest.

"Yeah." Ichigo agreed as he laid on the branch opposite her slightly higher up. "But at least this has purpose, frankly I don't care about this land. When we're in control of the entire company we can either burn this land to the ground and set it as simple trade buildings only or let the establishment's strive here again. I know I said that our lives didn't have to be bathed in bloodshed, but our lives aren't like that yet and until they are..." He sighed. "I don't know, maybe we're going about this the wrong way but this is the only way we know." Tayuya glanced up at him, his hat resting over his face.

"I guess you're right." She agreed. "Gato didn't seem that bad, but he's a liar through and through I could tell that, he probably doesn't want us in on the illegal stuff he does and until we prove ourselves he won't even mention it." Ichigo grunted in acknowledgement. "After everything is sorted with Gato I still reckon we should hit a hot spring before we get back to Kumo."

"Agreed." Ichigo told her making her smile lightly as they continued to wait, it was just under an hour before they heard voices. Tayuya looked back to Ichigo who simply raised his hand and spun his finger in a circle making her sigh and stand up before jumping into the higher branches of the trees to get a better look at the road.

Crouching on a branch that easily looked over the road both ways for a fair distance Tayuya saw the four people walking down the road, searching the faces she immediately recognised the one they were after. He was a man standing above the others, his skin was a dark tan in colour with his spiky black hair. A white piece of rope wrapped around his forehead and he had an X shaped scar on his chin. Reaching back with one of her hands to a weapons pouch resting over her lower back she pulled out four senbon needles out laced in between her fingers. Raising her hand up her breathing slowing as she prepared herself before she through all four senbon at once.

All hit their intended targets. Two struck into Kaiza's thigh sending him to the ground clutching his leg in pain as he cried out, the senbon immobilising his entire left leg having caused him to collapse. The other two were both kill shots, there were two other men with Kaiza, the sharp weapons hitting their jugulars sending them to the ground, blood forming around their bodies as they lay limp, senbon sticking out of their necks. Tayuya looked down to Ichigo to see him sit up and dust off his hat before jumping down to the ground and walking over to Kaiza.

"Ah! Damn it!" Kaiza grunted in pain as he managed to pull one of the senbon out of his leg and threw it across the ground. Gripping the other senbon in his leg he stopped as he heard footsteps and looked up to see the white clad orange haired teen standing before him, at his feet was the senbon he had pulled out of his leg. Crouching down Ichigo picked the senbon up and looked it over.

"Seems Tayuya was being nice for a change." Ichigo said making Kaiza glare at him. "You're Kaiza correct?" Ichigo questioned.

"You work for Gato!" Kaiza growled at him, his head starting to feel woozy his grip on the senbon loosening slightly.

"Working with Gato. Not for. There is a difference." Ichigo told him. "So you are Kaiza."

"I am." Kaiza breathed out his head spinning as he collapsed back onto the ground his breathing heavy. "W-What did you do to me?" He questioned.

"I didn't do anything, as I said Tayuya was being nice. Everything in your body is shutting down in accordance to the poison she used on you." Ichigo explained raising the senbon up to his vision. "Within the next twenty minutes all that will be working properly is your heart along with the most vital organs in your body and your five senses will be simply null and void, you won't be able to see, smell, feel, hear or taste anything. With the poison still in your system and you'll be dead within the next hour or so." Kaiza's breathing grew heavy as his mouth began to dry.

"H-How was s-she being nice..."

"Because with what's about to happen to you." Ichigo told him. "It's better not to be able to feel anything at all." Removing the second senbon from Kaiza's legs the man didn't even grunt in pain not being able to feel anything where the poison was most potent.

"The guy needed something." Tayuya said from behind Ichigo walking up to him. "Let's get him to where he needs to go, Gato said he wanted to make an example out of him." Ichigo sighed but nodded lifting the man up and over his shoulder, handing the two senbon back to Tayuya she placed them back in her weapon's pouch and the duo walked back towards the village leaving the two dead men where they lay.

X-X

Ichigo rested against the fence simply watching as thugs hoisted Kaiza up onto the make shift cross, it only reminded him of the religion of Christianity back in the world he was from. Tayuya was beside him however her back was turned to Kaiza and looking out past the fence. The Villagers were gathering on the far side of the fence far from the two shinobi. Shouts of rage and shock could be heard as people realised what was going on, even in the Shinobi world people had more respect then this then to give somebody such a public execution.

The shouts of rage only increased as Gato entered the fenced clearing, shoving his cigar under his shoe he twisted it into the ground and walked over to Kaiza, his arms were brutally mutilated and a sickly shade of purple from the bruising. He made no attempt to acknowledge the businessman. Both shinobi knew that he simply couldn't.

"Listen up!" Gato shouted raising his voice so everyone could hear, the crowd seemingly going quiet. "This man has defied the Gato Company! He has disturbed the order of this land! His punishment is execution!" He called out looking over the crowd, murmurs going through the villagers. Ichigo glanced side long at Tayuya to see her gripping the fence tightly, her eyes closed as she was seemingly counting down. "Let this be an example so no one will stand in our way again." Tayuya let out a breath as she turned and saw the final light fade from Kaiza's eyes, the poison having taken his life.

"Father!" Both Tayuya's and Ichigo's heads shot to the crowd eyes slightly wide beneath their hats as they saw a young boy clutching the fence tightly tears streaming down his face. A woman with black hair pulled the boy away but his wailing could still be heard by the two shinobi as the mother and son sank into the crowd. Clenching his fists tightly Ichigo lowered the bill of his hat to shadow over his eyes, Tayuya doing the same.

"Do it." They heard Gato say before the click of a sword being unsheathed reached their ears, gasps of shock coming from the crowd. Ichigo rose his head as he watched the thug slice through Kaiza's throat, the already dead man not making a single recognition to show that he even felt the blade cross his throat.

When Gato walked back into his office both Ichigo and Tayuya were waiting, Gato simply sat behind his desk going over a few things before looking to up at the two.

"You kids did me a huge favour today." Gato said as he pulled a suitcase up from behind his desk and placed it on top of the desk and clicked it open before turning it around. "I repay my debts." Ichigo walked forward and went to take the handle of the case before it slammed shut. "How'd you like the triple it?" Gato questioned as he stared up into the emotionless eyes of the orange haired teen. "Nothing like the previous man, I just need this man dead and so do you. His work effects everything in the future. He's a bridge builder and has started construction on a bridge to the mainland, that bridge gets completed everything I have set up here will have been for nothing. Meaning, you don't get your trade routes. I sent word to a missing nin not that long ago but he hasn't made it here yet. You're here now, take the job and I'll pay you for it." Ichigo looked up his eyes even colder.

"What's the targets name?" Ichigo questioned.

"Tazuna, Tazuna the Bridge Builder."

**Alright, I'm not sure how long before canon that Kaiza died, in this story it's a few months before the Land of Waves arc. AS per usual leave a review telling me what you guys think and all that PM me if you got any questions at all.**


	10. Chapter 10

"What are you thinking?" Tayuya questioned as she landed on the branch of the tree where Ichigo had been sitting for the last hour. The orange haired teen glanced up at the red head and sighed. It had been a week since Gato had asked them to kill Tazuna and they still hadn't even tried to do it yet. Simply observing the bridge builder for the time being. They had both been surprised when they found out that the man was somehow connected to Kaiza, having seen the young boy and woman that had been at Kaiza's public execution.

"I've got an idea." Tayuya rose an eyebrow at that. "I've been thinking of ways to go about it, collecting the information on Tazuna. I've heard that he's going to go to Konoha in a weeks time to try and recruit their help." He informed her of the information he had learned from listening in on some conversations from hopeful villagers.

"Understandable, no matter the case though, there is no way in hell that they have enough funds to actually get a mission out of Konoha." Ichigo nodded his head in agreement. "But Konoha is a weak willed village, they think to much with their hearts."

"Exactly." Ichigo added. "However Konoha is still strong, and who ever is sent to help the bridge builder, will more then likely succeed. The missing nin who Gato has hired, whoever it is, won't win and the bridge will get completed and the trade between Gato and the Land of Snow won't ever happen." Tayuya nodded in understanding. "Now we have two choices. The first kill Tazuna as Gato asked." Tayuya hummed in acknowledgement. "The second is..."

"We don't kill Tazuna." Tayuya said making Ichigo nod in agreement. "What about everything we've set up with Gato, sure we could go to other trading companies but Gato Company is one of the largest in the world. It would highly be beneficial and all it takes is a single life." She mused almost to herself. Ichigo's grunt of acknowledgement the only sign that he had been listening. "So how do you plan on sneaking the bridge builder out of here?" Ichigo glanced to Tayuya to see her with a slight smirk on her face. "You think I don't know how you think Ichigo?" Ichigo chuckled lightly.

"I think you know how I think perfectly fine." Ichigo told her. "Tazuna is a master at his craft, he'd be highly beneficial for the Land of Snow." Tayuya nodded showing she understood his line of thinking. "So... this is what a propose."

X-X

Tazuna's nose twitched as a foul stench practically breathed out onto his face attempting to roll over in his slumber he found he was restricted his eyes shot wide open as a low growl reached his ears. His eye's shot wide open as he stared into the golden eyes of the beasts hovering over his form. Tazuna opened his mouth to shout for help before the jaws of the hyena latched around his throat making him instantly stop.

"One squeak and he'd have ripped your throat out." A voice said making Tazuna's eyes widen as he searched the dark room unable to move any part of his body apart form his eyes that were rapidly shooting in every direction trying to find the owner of the voice. The hyena continued to hold him by the throat before he saw a flicker of a flame and a candle was ignited illuminating the room revealing that there were two people other then the hyena.

"Bridge Builder-san." The girl said stepping forward and taking a seat on his bedside table folding a leg over the other and staring down at him. "I'm going to ask you a couple of questions."

"Kizzy." The hyena instantly let Tazuna's throat go and jumped off the bed to sit beside the feet of it's master who was sitting in a chair that Tazuna recognised as the one his daughter had been sitting at dinner earlier in the evening.

"Who are you people?" Tazuna questioned raising a hand up to rub his throat as he sat up in his bed.

"We work with Gato." Ichigo told him making Tazuna's eyes shoot wide open as he turned to the young man sitting beside the hyena his body tensed ready for the strike to come. "Don't worry Tazuna-san, we didn't come to kill you."

"Although we were paid too." Tayuya said drumming her fingers on the bedside table she was sitting on making Tazuna turn back to her. "Now Tazuna-san." Tayuya said. "Which do you love more, you family or your country." Tazuna looked up at her before turning back to Ichigo wandering if this was actually happening. Tayuya sighed in annoyance. "I asked you a questioned Tazuna-san. The very answers you give will determine weather you live or die."

"W-Were you the ones who killed Kaiza?" Tazuna questioned making the red head sigh in annoyance once more.

"Answer my question old man." Tayuya told him reaching into her pouch and pulling out a kunai. "I won't ask you again."

"My family means everything to me." Tazuna told her after a few moments of silence before seeing the two exchange a glance in the candle lite room. Tayuya thrust the kunai into the wood of the bedside table making Tazuna wince slightly.

"That makes this a little easier then Tazuna-san." Ichigo told him. "It's true that Gato ordered us to kill you, but we've figured you could be used in more useful ways..."

"I won't work for Gato!" Tazuna growled. "What he's done to this country! I'll never work for him." Kizzy growled, the hairs on the hyena's neck raising up as he growled sensing Tazuna's rage, as if warning the man sitting in his bed before Ichigo placed a hand on the wild dog's head calming it instantly.

"No Tazuna-san, you would not be working _for_ Gato, you'd be working _with_ the two of us." He said tilting his head in Tayuya's direction to show the bridge builder that he was speaking for the two of them. "However, working with us means that Gato needs to think that you're dead. So we're going to have to fake your death, blowing the bridge up with a few of your tools as evidence that you were there would make it flashy, knowing Gato he'll probably like that."

"Agreed." Tayuya nodded. "Couple of explosive tags, maybe get Tazuna-san to get a few of the people around town to see him heading to the bridge to get to work. Witnesses and all that." Ichigo hummed in agreement. Tazuna simply glancing at the two wandering if this was a dream or some kind of sick joke. "That not only deals with Tazuna-san, but also any incline that a bridge can be built." Ichigo nodded.

"Well Tazuna-san, how'd you like to die tomorrow?" Ichigo questioned as if he was asking about the weather. Tazuna simply looked at him as if he was stupid.

"You're completely insane." Tazuna said with wide eyes. "This is some kind of weird messed up dream."

"By all means Tazuna-san, you can die right now." Tayuya told him. "We don't _need_ you, we simply _want_ your abilities as a master craftsman. We're simply offering you a way to stay a live and use your abilities." Tayuya continued. "Quite frankly, we'd rather see you live."

"You're asking me to run away from my family! To run away from my country! My home! For what!? Just so you can use me?" He growled out

"Tazuna-san." Ichigo started raising from the chair. "We'd be saving your life, and the lives of your family. They'd be coming to. We're not so cold blooded that we'd leave them here to suffer under Gato. It'd affect your work in the future. All you have to do, is leave your country behind forget about building the bridge, forget about the Land of Waves. Forget about Gato." Ichigo told him.

"Say the word and you'll be on the way to the Land of Lightning tomorrow afternoon." Tayuya told him. Tazuna stared wide eyed up at them, they were offering to save his family and all he had to do was... turn away from his country, from all the ones that were believing in him, trusting him to complete the bridge and save the Land of Waves.

Looking down into his lap he frowned thinking of what to do, having only lost Kaiza a few days ago things in the wave seemed to be hopeless. His eyes shot wide open as a photo frame landed in his lap, it was one of his daughter, grandson and Kaiza along with himself, they were happy. He turned and looked up to Tayuya the one who had thrown it in his lap.

"If you don't do it, do you really think Gato will stop at just you?" Tazuna frowned as he looked back down at the photo. "If not for yourself, do it for what remains of your family." Tazuna looked back up at them his gaze full of determination.

"Were you the ones to kill Kaiza?" He questioned once more as Tayuya sighed sliding herself off the bedside table and walking around to the end of the bed, patting Kizzy on the head as she did so Ichigo simply standing there.

"We gave mercy to him in his last moments." Tayuya told him.

"You call slitting his throat in front of a crowd mercy? Just what kind of monsters are you!?" Both Tayuya and Ichigo scowled at this.

"From the time we had handed him over to Gato to the time of his death, he felt nothing." Ichigo told the bridge builder making the old man's eyes widened. "We gave him a poison that shut his body down, numbing his sense to the extent that he couldn't even feel himself breath. We gave him mercy because we knew what Gato would do to him. Call us monsters if you'd like, but before that blade crossed his neck, he was already dead."

"We've done worse things then killing a man who thought he was a hero Tazuna-san." Tayuya said softly surprising Tazuna, he could feel the remorse in her voice. "But name a true shinobi who hasn't. You were going to Konoha to ask for aid were you not?"

"How'd you know about that?" Tazuna questioned however Tayuya ignored him.

"You were going to hire ninja to protect you so you could build your bridge." She told him. "But do you really think that building a bridge would make Gato simply disappear, that everything would be grand after the bridge was built? Do you really think he would run away by the mere sight of a bridge? Or would Gato use his power to blow that bridge sky high." Tazuna scowled. "Those same ninja that you were to hire, would go on to deal with Gato, more then likely kill him. Tell me Tazuna-san, how is killing Gato any different to killing a man who thought he was a hero?"

"Gato's a monster!"

"Gato is just as human as you are Tazuna-san." Ichigo told him. "He went through life and was handed a set of cards and made himself known throughout the world with what he was dealt." Ichigo told him. "Everyone has monsters inside of them Tazuna-san, and they are always trying to claw their way out, just some more then others." Ichigo shook his head as he let out a shallow breath. "Now Tazuna-san, we're offering you a way out. All you have to do is take it." Tazuna looked up at the two before lowering his gaze and slowly nodded.

X-X

Gato stood before the burning fires that covered the bridge, having heard the explosion all that way from the hideout in the depth of the forest. Before him stood Tayuya and Ichigo, the burning inferno lay behind them, the bridge crumbling in on itself and into the waters below.

"You have my gratitude." Gato said walking forward case in hand. "I assume the bridge builder was on that bridge."

"Just look around Gato-san." Ichigo told him, Gato doing so. Every single citizen of the town was standing there horror on there faces as they watched the bridge burn, complete and utter defeat in their eyes. "We made sure the bridge builder was dead." Another explosion rocked the bridge causing the last of it to fall into the waters below. Gato nodded and offered the case to which Tayuya took.

"Can't stop you from leaving? I could use a few good shinobi like yourselves." Gato queried.

"We have other matters to deal with Gato-san." Ichigo told him. "Land of Snow won't come to us willingly." Gato laughed and nodded.

"That it won't." Gato told him. "Well, good luck. I'll be awaiting your message for when you wish to set up routes with our company." Ichigo nodded and the two shook hands before Tayuya and Ichigo set off for a small boat that they had waiting for them.

"Every thing's dealt with now." Tayuya said placing the case in the boat, Ichigo pushing the boat out into the water before both jumped in. Ichigo pulled the string for the motor for the boat before sitting down and steering the boat out into the water heading for the mainland. "Gato's under a Genjutsu that will put our names as his successor to Gato Corporations had he ever died, it took a lot out of me to perform something like that." She sighed, the sign of chakra exhaustion clearly showing.

"Sorry I couldn't be there to hear it." Ichigo smiled softly at her. "I always do enjoy your music." Tayuya smiled softly in return before they simply let the sound of the motor of the boat fill the air as they made their way to land. Having left the boat on the beach they walked up over the bank and into the forest. When they reached a clearing they saw Tazuna speaking with his daughter Tsunami who was seemingly irritated at something. Ichigo exchanged a glance with Tayuya only for the red head to role her eyes making him chuckle lightly.

"Tazuna-san." Ichigo called out making both Tsunami and Tazuna turn to them. "Everything is done, we're leaving."

"You expect us to follow you after all you've done?" Tsunami questioned. "After you killed my husband?" Tayuya sighed in irritation.

"Quite frankly all we need is the old man." Tayuya told her. "You can go where ever you like. But it is a long way to anywhere, bandits, thugs and who knows what else travel these parts and a woman and child wouldn't make it very far. So shut up and move, we're leaving." Tsunami frowned but remained quiet as she turned and helped Inari get ready to leave. The three civilians only had a simple bag each filled with what they could carry.

"How long will it take to get to the Land of Waves?" Tazuna questioned as he walked along side Ichigo.

"Over a week or so." Ichigo told him. "We'll stop and buy a cart somewhere so we're not always walking. We're heading back a month earlier then we said we would be." Tayuya nodded in agreement, they were going to go back to Kumo in two months however with Tazuna and his family coming along it was better to return to the Land of Lightning as soon as possible. "It just gives us another month to train and get accustomed to our new Jounin instructor and team mate."

"Who ever they are, they better not be a pain in the ass." Tayuya huffed.

**Well I guess I should clear a few things up with you readers about how Ichigo is in this story. By no means is this going to be a Dark Ichigo Fic. Possibly could be seen as a rant... **

**Well for one, this isn't the same Ichigo as Bleach. He hasn't gone through anything in the Bleach series after he was nine years old after his Mother died. In Bleach he resided to protect his Mother and Sisters, in Quincy Among Shinobi, Juha Bach has told him there is no way of returning back to his world which makes the subject of his family a touchy subject, as you saw when Naruko suggest to Ichigo and Tayuya about their relationship being close to siblings.**

**Right now, Tayuya is the only person Ichigo trusts. She is the closest person to him, having been with him for over six years and having experienced that same intensity of death and horror underneath Orochimaru's teaching. In Bleach his mother's death was a large aspect of who he grew up to be, how he wanted to protect all of his loved ones. In this story, Tayuya is the one who he want's to protect. Orochimaru took advantage of this to train him up to be a true Shinobi. As I stated in chapter eight, Minato recognised this within both Tayuya and Ichigo.**

**Some of you have said that Ichigo is heartless. I have no way intended Ichigo or Tayuya to be heartless, in the last chapter it was clearly shown that they didn't like what they were doing to Kaiza, Tayuya going so far as to kill him without pain and to numb his body so he wouldn't feel what was happening to him from Gato's men. Can you really call that merciless? They have a goal in mind and they want to achieve that goal. It simply took one man's life to help further that goal.**

**Shinobi kill, it's part of the job.**

**As Shinobi they've learned to cut their emotions off when needed which is a rare trait amongst the Naruto-verse that I've seen, the only one I can recall doing this is Itachi. There may be more, I don't know. I feel that this would be an asset to have. But a lot of you apparently think diffrently.**

**As for Ichigo's level of power he's currently at a High Chunnin state. For years he was only able to train his Quincy powers in secret not having the full diversity of training in the open. Also in this story Ichigo's Quincy training within his inner world does not affect his Quincy training with his physical body. Quite frankly I don't want Ichigo to simply be god like from the get go, just smashing through his enemies. For one it gets repetitive and boring in fics.**

**Also I'm not sure how you can judge Ichigo's current skill level since all you've seen him use is his Kojaku.**

**Thorndsword: I know you didn't want me to spare Tazuna but undoubtedly he would be an asset to the Land of Snow.**

**SmileFoxGin: 1: I'm not sure how you can judge Ichigo's current skill level since all you've seen him use is his Kojaku.**

**2: Yes Quincy have their own pride, and yes I can see where you are coming from when you say they they wouldn't be used by people for killing. However you're forgetting an important detail. Ichigo isn't just a Quincy, he's also a shinobi in this fic and Shinobi kill people.**

**Pretty sure that's about all. Any questions PM me.**


	11. Chapter 11

Tayuya clicked her tongue in annoyance as Ichigo stood beside her clearly not bothered in the slightest by the situation they had just been handed. They had returned to Kumogakure a few days earlier, Tazuna having been introduced to the Raikage as the Land of Snow's future craftsman. A had given the two shinobi several days of rest from their travels before they would be introduced to the team that they would be joining with. This was where they were currently. Standing in the Raikage's office across from A, next to them were a male and a female, their Jounin instructor and their Genin team member.

"Ichigo, Tayuya. This is your new Jounin instructor Darui." A told them making said man roll his head in the duo's direction. Darui is a fairly tall, dark-skinned man with a slightly bulbous nose, a lazy look in his eyes and shaggy, white hair which covers his left eye. He wears a high-collared, sleeveless uniform with loose fitting pants, bandages on his wrists and the one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket of a Kumogakure shinobi. "He's a capable shinobi, one of my most trusted Jounin."

"Yo." Darui greeted raising his hand up.

"Your team mate is Samui." Tayuya's eyes shot to the blonde girl who was simply watching the two of them with a look of mild interest. Samui is a fair-skinned woman of tall stature. She has blue eyes and straight, blonde hair framing her face cut in an asymmetrical bob style with the front bangs reaching her shoulders. She wears a very low-cut outfit which displays her sizeable cleavage, with mesh armour underneath, a short skirt and red hand guards, high boots, and what appears to be a modified Kumogakure flak jacket that covers her stomach only, similar to a girdle. She also has a tanto strapped horizontally to her lower back.

"From here on out until the Chunnin exams are over, you are a team. Darui you're in control from here. Dismissed." The four gave the Raikage a slight bow before they left the office. Walking down the hall Ichigo and Tayuya followed Darui, Samui walking beside the red head much to Tayuya's confusion. Looking over his shoulder Darui looked the three over before stopping and let out a small sigh.

"Right, you." He said pointing at Ichigo. "What's your name."

"Ichigo." Darui rose an eyebrow before turning to Tayuya.

"And I thought you'd be the strawberry." Ichigo's eyebrow twitched slightly before Darui chuckled in mild amusement. "Guess that means you've got the Lightning Release." He said turning back to Ichigo who nodded. "Well that makes this easier, Samui and Tayuya have Water Release so that counts for something. I'm proficient in both so it shouldn't be that hard to teach you guys a few things." He nodded as he turned and began to walk again, gesturing for the three to follow him.

"Darui-sensei, when will we be heading for Konoha?" Samui questioned.

"Two months from now. Meaning I have two months to get you to work efficiently as a team. From what I hear two of you already work well together, if we can manage to work Samui-san into your team efforts it won't be that hard." Darui explained.

"You know anything about Genjutsu?" Tayuya questioned making Darui look over his shoulder once more to look at the red head.

"Can't say that I do Tayuya-san." Darui informed her. "If you'd like I can find a Genjutsu instructor for the time that we don't have team meetings and missions." Tayuya thought for a moment before nodding her head in agreement.

"Sounds good." She told him.

"Either of you know kenjutsu?" Darui asked as they exited the Raikage tower.

"Nope." Tayuya told him.

"I'm at a capable level." Ichigo informed them, having used his **Seele Snider** as a sword gave Orochimaru incentive to teach him about kenjutsu.

"Well I guess we can start Tayuya-san on some kenjutsu, or if she'd like, perhaps another weapon." Darui mused as they walked. "Samui-san, B-sama has taught you kenjutsu, correct?"

"Yes, it was the first thing B-sensei taught me." Darui nodded in understanding. Killer B was renown for his eight sword style after all.

"What, you got another Sensei or something?" Tayuya questioned the blonde who looked across at her.

"Yes, B-sensei asked one of us to volunteer for joining a new squad temporarily." Samui told her. "Karui and Omoi didn't look like they were going to put their hands up for the job so I took it upon myself to help." She informed the red head making Tayuya 'oh' at the girls explanation.

"Boss said that you've got yourself a special set of skills Ichigo-san." Darui told him as they walked out into a training field stopping in the middle, the three stopping behind him. Ichigo sighed knowing that hiding his Quincy abilities wasn't going to work, having told the Raikage about them only made things complicated. "I guess everyone's got their own strengths." Darui shrugged making Ichigo sweat drop slightly how the Jounin had simply discarded it. "Alright, team building exercises." He said clapping his hands while rubbing them together together before turning around to face them as he looked the three over.

"Well, we should do something so I could test your skills. Fighting one another is just too much of a cliché, it brings rivalries between one another, doubt in your own strengths. Don't get me wrong, a sparing match between friends is good thing but sparring and fighting are different, when you train, you spar with one another to compare one another's strengths, to help them get stronger. Fighting is for a purpose, a purpose to win. No matter which way you put it fighting is brutal. As shinobi it's apart of our every day lives. A team shouldn't be built upon brutality." Darui said as he began to pace back and forth in front of them. "So, from here on out. The three of you will be living together."

"What?" Tayuya questioned leaning forward slightly. "I think I heard you wrong."

"It's understandable." Samui said. "Living with one another will form a bond between us." She told Tayuya making the red head scowl at her. "If we are to work as a team we'll have to know one another, learn how each other act, our habits."

"Exactly, a unity between you. You two already have it." Darui said pointing at both Ichigo and Tayuya. "I need to know that you're willing to accept a third member, if you can't work together with Samui then this whole thing is a bust and no point to it." Tayuya only scowled more.

"Fine!" Tayuya growled. "It's only for two months."

"Good, then Samui can move in with you today. Boss said you have been given an apartment while living here correct? It should suffice for the three of you, the craftsman and his family were set up with another place of residence right?"

"That's right." Ichigo nodded.

"First assignment as Team Cloud. Assist in moving house." Darui told them before there was silence making the Jounin frown in annoyance. "Now people."

X-X

"This is bullshit!" Tayuya shouted kicking an empty box down the hall Samui catching it before it hit her. "Moving crap like this isn't an assignment!"

"Team building." Darui called out from another room.

"Fuck that! You're doing jack shit! You've been here for the last two hours napping on the couch!" Tayuya shouted out to him. "Why do you even have so much crap!" Tayuya shouted at Samui.

"I didn't know what to bring so I brought everything, I'd have brought it in a sealing scroll however Darui-sensei forbade it." Samui told her. "Darui-sensei doesn't need team building exercise. He won't be working with us during the Chunnin exams, we'll be on our own for the most of it." Tayuya simple scowled in annoyance. "Where is Kurosaki-san?"

"He's busy." Tayuya huffed. "Now let's get the rest of your crap." Samui simply nodded and followed the red head out of the apartment. Darui stood up from the couch and frowned, he knew Ichigo was still in the house but couldn't sense him at all. There were no chakra signatures in the house apart from his own.

"Ichigo-san?" Darui called out.

"Yeah?" Ichigo called back making Darui head towards where he heard Ichigo was in. Opening a door it revealed a large room, in the centre of the room was a large table with a scaled model of an island built open it. Ichigo had his hands on the table as he looked over the model. He glanced up to see Darui standing there.

"Shouldn't you be helping your team mates?"

"Tayuya's the one you have to work with on team work." Ichigo said turning his attention back to the model. "For six years we worked with four other people, I'm the only one she got along with. We worked together, but she couldn't get along with the others, it affected team work in some ways."

"Under your time with Orochimaru?" Ichigo glanced up at him but nodded regardless. "Don't worry Ichigo-san, Boss has told me everything. Even how you managed to create an alliance with Konoha, he is very grateful to you for that." Ichigo simply looked back down at the model. "Is that suppose to be the Land of Snow?"

"Yeah." Ichigo said with a sigh as he collapsed into a chair near the table rubbing his forehead. Darui walked forward and surveyed the model, he had to say from the maps he had seen, this was almost an exact replica of the Land of Snow.

"You truly know what you're doing Ichigo-san." Darui told him. "This is impressive, with Kumo's help I'm sure you'll be able to take the Land of Snow." Ichigo watched the dark skin man as he walked around the table surveying the model. "I just want to know one thing Ichigo-san." Ichigo tilted his head to the side. "Why take it over?"

"Trust me Darui-sensei." Ichigo told him chuckling lightly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Darui hummed in thought for a moment before nodding, he wasn't about to pry on someone else's business.

"Tell Samui-san and Tayuya-san, that training will start at ten tomorrow morning, over the next two months I'll be training you all. I'm well aware that you and Tayuya-san are above Genin Level already however that doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared. Konoha has some of the most powerful Shinobi in history, they are not to be underestimated, especially their Genin."

"Underestimating gets you killed Darui-sensei." Ichigo told him. "Given the right circumstances a Genin could take down a Jounin just because of underestimation. Like you said earlier, fighting is brutal, do you know why? Because when you fight, you kill. There is no winner or loser. There is the survivor and the dead." Darui looked into Ichigo's eyes to see him speaking the truth.

"Over the years I've come to realise something, when I was a kid I never thought I would believe in the things I do now." Ichigo shook his head before he continued to speak. "You give the opposition the chance to underestimate you Darui-sensei, and you lost a chance to kill them. You underestimate them you might as well already be dead. There is no point of thinking in the heat of battle you are there to do a job, you do it. If you stop to think about why your killing someone, it'll be too late before they've already taken your life." Ichigo sighed and took a slight breath.

"I get it Ichigo-san." Darui said. "A shinobi is a simple tool for all manners of things, killing included. I myself have my fair share of deaths." Darui told him. "But remember Ichigo-san, we're still human. Turning our emotions off will only work for a while before you loose them completely. Just because you can kill someone doesn't mean that is always the answer. Training tomorrow morning." Ichigo nodded as Darui turned and left before letting out a small sigh and leaned back in his chair and looked towards the ceiling.

"_You'd be disappointed in me Mum, I just know it. But right now, there are things I have to do, to protect the one I care about."_

X-X

"What are you doing here Kizzy?" Tayuya questioned as she ruffled up her bed messed hair glancing down at the Hyena laying on the cold tile floors of the Kitchen. Kizzy looked up at her and rose an eyebrow at her, she was simply dressed in one of Ichigo's shirts, or was one of his shirts however was stolen from him once Tayuya realised that she could simply wear it to bed, it came down to her knees and barely hung off one of her shoulders.

"Tayuya-sama, it's nice to see you again." Kizzy bowed slightly. "Ichigo-sama summoned me for a morning run, we only just got back a few minutes ago." Tayuya nodded as she walked past him and opened up a cupboard grabbing a box of cereal before pouring herself a bowel as she listened out for the shower which was just turned on.

"Hungry?" The red head questioned as she headed for the fridge, opening it and peering in.

"I've eaten." Kizzy told her as he watched her move about the kitchen. "You smell of Ichigo-sama." Kizzy told her as she walked from the fridge with a bottle of milk.

"It's probably the shirt." Tayuya commented as she poured milk into the bowl placing the bottle on the bench and turning around raising the bowel up as she stuck the spoon in.

"You wear Ichigo-sama's clothes?"

"I wear his shirt to bed." Tayuya told him placing a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

"Ah, Tayuya-sama feels comfort when she has Ichigo-sama's scent close." Tayuya's eyes almost bugged out of her head as she choked on her cereal. The thumping of Kizzy's tail on the ground clearly showed the red head that he was amused.

"What the hell Kizzy? What kind of comment was that!?" Tayuya snapped. The hyena laughed at her, the same laugh she had heard dozens of times from all of Ichigo's summons, the laugh that seemed to mock you. Tayuya simply huffed in annoyance.

"You're Ichigo-sama's mate correct? You've been with him long before we were ever contracted to Ichigo-sama." Tayuya frowned slightly as she stared into her bowl of cereal. "You have a deep emotional connection to Ichigo-sama."

"Deep connection or not, we're not like that Kizzy." Tayuya told him making the hyena tilt it's head before the dog's eyes narrowed and he got up onto all fours the hair on the back of his neck sticking up as he let a low growl from his throat. Tayuya turned to the door to see Samui approaching the door to the kitchen fully dressed. "Easy Kizzy." Tayuya said walking forward, placing the bowl down on the bench behind her and walking over to the dog. "This is our new team mate, Samui." She informed crouching down beside the dog as he growled at Samui.

"A summon?" Samui questioned standing still as the dog was ready to lunge at her if she came any closer. "Kurosaki-san's?"

"That's right." Tayuya told her before thumping Kizzy in the side in a hefty pat, the same way she had seen Ichigo ruff-house the hyena numerous times in the past. "Go get Ichigo out of the shower or go home." Kizzy looked up at her before back to Samui before he burst into a cloud of smoke.

"I wasn't aware that Kurosaki-san had a summon contract." Samui said walking into the kitchen. "Do you Tayuya-san?"

"Yeah." Tayuya nodded walking back to her bowel of cereal. "With the Doki clan." Tayuya told her. "You?"

"No." Samui shook her head. "In Kumo summoning contracts are hard to come by, most clans have them." Tayuya nodded her head. "Kurosaki-san's hyena seemed very protective of you Tayuya-san."

"The three of us practically grew up together, or more so that Ichigo and I raised him." Tayuya told her as she finished up her cereal and headed over to the sink "When Ichigo signed the contract of the hyena clan he was ten, Kizzy had just been born a few days before then. Having had an audience with the clan's Boss Summon, Kizzy's mother. She made Kizzy Ichigo's personal summon. Ever since Kizzy's been there with us." She finished as she placed the bowel on the rack to dry. "A hyena's like a dog, you have to gain it's trust, it won't be loyal unless it trusts you. Sorry for the way he acted but he doesn't know you."

"It's quite alright Tayuya-san." Samui told her. "We should get ready and head to the meeting point." Samui suggested. "Darui-sensei is actually very punctual, even though he seems lazy he is Raikage-sama's right hand. He is one of the most trusted Jounin in the entire village."

"No wonder we're stuck with him then." Tayuya mumbled in annoyance.

"By no means does Raikage-sama mean to keep an eye on you Tayuya-san. It was actually Darui-sensei's choice to become our instructor. Usually Darui-sensei is Raikage-sama's body guard, with going to the Chunnin exams he will be at Raikage-sama's side when everything happens with Orochimaru. He will be able to deliver a full month's report to the Raikage before the final exams when he arrives in Konoha." The blonde explained to her.

"Understandable." Tayuya mused as she watched Samui move around the kitchen making herself a cup of coffee. "How come you truly wanted to join the team? I'm sure you didn't stick your hand up just because your other team mates didn't." Samui simply smiled softly.

"Karui and Omoi are newly instated Genin, I've been a Genin for over a year now under B-sensei and Yugito-sensei as a joint team. He suggested it to me earlier asking if I wished to attend the Chunnin exams. I agreed." Tayuya nodded in understanding. "I do hope we're able to work together."

"Yeah, we'll see." Tayuya said walking out of the kitchen before stopping as Ichigo walked out of the bathroom, towel around his waist and a towel over his head drying his hair. Tayuya growled in annoyance.

"What?" Ichigo asked looking at Tayuya from underneath the towel over his head. "Hey, didn't I tell you to stop wearing my shirts?" He mock glared a her.

"Their comfortable to sleep in!" Tayuya growled at him. "I'm sure Samui doesn't want to see you walking around half naked Ichigo, get dressed." Ichigo looked over Tayuya's shoulder to see Samui in the kitchen looking down at the duo from over the rim of a cup of coffee. He raised his hand in greeting.

"Morning."

"Morning Kurosaki-san." Samui greeted in return lowering her coffee, her eyes never leaving him. Tayuya looked over her shoulder and scowled before turning back to Ichigo.

"Get dressed, one blonde's enough to deal with." Ichigo couldn't help but laugh as he made his way to his room at Tayuya's comment on Naruko. Tayuya simply huffing in annoyance as she slammed her own door shut leaving Samui in the kitchen.

X-X

"Well, we're all here on time, that's something." Darui said rubbing his hands together as the three stood before him. "First of all, we're going to do chakra exercise. I'm aware that the three of you already have some talent in these. But I don't know what you've be taught, nor would I want to stop you from learning what you have. I just want you to put that all on hold and simple learn what I have to teach you." He explained to them.

"These next two months and the month between the last two exams you'll all be taught two jutsu of your element along with taijutsu and kenjutsu. Ichigo-san, two lightning jutsu, Tayuya-san and Samui-san two water jutsu each. But first, chakra exercises." All three of them sighed at once, Samui included. "Don't complain, Boss has given me several jutsu of high chunnin rank for you to learn. You may be thinking that this is favouritism but it isn't, we're going to war against Orochimaru of the Sannin. You need to be able to control these jutsu in the heat of battle. So get to it, I'm sure you know how to manipulate your chakra natures."

Ichigo rose his hand up as he scratched the side of his head in annoyance. He had forgone wearing his full uniform to training not wanting to ruin the expensive material he had bought for it. Having simply worn his boots, pants and form fitting mesh undershirt in it's stead.

"Tayuya, let me borrow some of your senbon." Ichigo called out making the red head glance at him before signing and reached into her weapon's pouch pulling out two senbon and flicking them in Ichigo's direction making him scowl as he caught them between his fingers.

"What? Their not poisoned." She smirked at him making him shake his head before he walked away.

"You use poison Tayuya-san?" Samui questioned with a cocked eyebrow making the red head glance at her.

"Got a problem with that?" Tayuya asked.

"No, I'd actually like to learn. Alchemy is a useful skill to come across." Tayuya's eyes widened slightly at that before she smirked.

"Well alright then." She grinned. "Follow me, I know a decent water manipulation technique we can use. We can train together that way and I can tell you the basic poison concoctions you can make with the simplest ingredients." Samui nodded and followed the red head to the waters edge. Tayuya stripped from her shirt leaving her in a black training bra before she slipped out of her boots and rolled the legs of her pants up. She stood up straight and glanced at the blonde at her side that was watching her as she pulled her hair up into a pony tail. "What?"

"You're very open Tayuya-san." Tayuya looked around only to see Ichigo sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, Darui laying on the ground with his eyes closed presumably napping.

"It'd be a pain in the ass if my clothes got wet, plus Ichigo's seen it all before and no one is around." She said walking into the water so that she was knee deep. "Trust me, Ichigo doesn't care about stuff like this. Sure when we were kids he was a bit embarrassed about it, but now he doesn't mind much. Six years of showering with one another will do that." She mumbled.

"You and Kurosaki-san, shower together?" Samui questioned surprised.

"Did, haven't' in a long time." Tayuya told her. "Now, either hurry up or get undressed." Samui glanced around once more before nodding and pulling the modified flak jacket from around her stomach and letting it fall to the ground next to Tayuya's clothes before pulling up her shirt along with the mesh undershirt leaving her in her blue bra and her skirt. She pulled her boots off and walked into the water.

"_Kami, want to show me up in another way."_ Tayuya thought to herself as she saw Samui's large breasts bounce slightly in her bra as she walked forward. Stopping at knee depth Samui turned to Tayuya who was still eyeing her chest.

"Their not that great." Samui told her making Tayuya's eyes shoot to the blonde's face, slightly embarrassed. Samui chuckled lightly at Tayuya's expression. "You get these back pains and running is a total pain unless you've got the right method of holding them down."

"That's just a lie all you big boobers tell." Tayuya mumbled before standing face front to Samui. "You know how to mould chakra into water right?" Samui nodded her head. "Alright that's the hard part done, we don't need that. Right now we need to control our element." Bending over Tayuya reached down and cupped a handful of water with both hands. Samui watched with wide eyes as Tayuya pulled her hands apart and the water began to fall before it seemingly floated between her hands an end of the water teaching the palm of each hand.

"This is an advanced water manipulation technique. Water is constant force that is always moving, so you have to know how much chakra you're constantly flowing into it. Like walking on water." Samui nodded. "If you apply to little..." Samui watched as the water fell to the water below. "... it has nothing holding it up." Bending down again Tayuya pulled up another handful of water. "You get the drift." Samui nodded as she bent down and pulled a handful of water up and took a deep breath before the water in the palms of her hand exploded making her fall on her ass from the sudden force of the water hitting her. Tayuya was holding her stomach with both arms laughing as Samui sat up with wide eyes staring at Tayuya. "To much chakra and it explodes!" Tayuya roared in laughter.

"So not cool." Samui mumbled as she got back to her feet before she tried again, Tayuya giving her some tips. While the duo managed to come to terms with the water manipulation Ichigo was sitting across the training field, his legs cross two senbon resting atop his fingers pointing upwards held out in front of him. His breathing was steady as he watched the slight gap between the two senbon.

Taking in another deep breath he began to release chakra through the senbon the two sparking slightly as Ichigo moulded in his elemental chakra through both needles. Raising his hands up he touched the tips of the senbon together causing a larger spark to appear and strike out towards the ground making his eyebrows furrow slightly. He touched the tips together again and watched as the charge past between the two successfully. Separating the tips he watched as a stream of lighting connected the two points of the senbon. The stream spiked for a moment and he tried to maintain the chakra balance before it was gone in an instant making him growl slightly.

For the next several hours the three continued to train in the manipulation of elemental chakra. Tayuya and Samui discussed several different ways of utilising poisons as they moulded chakra, even going so far as to be able to connect one of their hands with one another with a stream of water. As they walked from the water they both collapsed onto the ground staring at the sky breathing slightly heavy.

"You guys did well." Darui said walking up to them. "It's been four hours already, you've greatly improved." He said crouching down next to them. "Ichigo's still at it." Both Tayuya and Samui sat up and both of their eyes shot wide open at what they were seeing. He was surrounded by streams of lighting, his arms spread out to the sides showing that the lighting was radiating from the two senbon on his fingers and Ichigo had placed several of his **Seele Snider **hilts in the ground surrounding him making them act as lightning rods.

"Ichigo-san, let's take a break." They watched as Ichigo looked over his shoulder and nodded as the lighting faded and he stood up groaning as his muscles started to work after such a long time of not moving.

"Showy much?" Tayuya questioned with a slight smirk as he walked over to them.

"Lightning's lightning Tayuya." Ichigo told her with a shrug. "How come you're dressed like that?" He asked making Tayuya look down to see that Samui and herself were only half dressed. "Eh, doesn't matter." Ichigo mumbled scratching the back of his head making Tayuya scowl at him slightly.

_"Geeze, he could at least pay some attention to girls."_ Tayuya thought as she bit her thumb. _"He didn't even bat an eyelash at Samui."_

"Well since you've done well I guess I should give you the jutsu." Darui said reaching into his weapon's pouch pulling out six scrolls before tossing two to each. "No need to master these completely right off that bat, you've got two months. We will begin taijutsu training tomorrow... and Tayuya-san." The red head looked up at the Jounin. "I've figured out a perfect weapon for you, I heard you discussing poisons with Samui-san. This will be a perfect weapon for your skills." Tayuya rose an eyebrow as the three watched as Darui pulled out a sealing scroll before flowing chakra through it. A cloud of smoke erupted and Tayuya stood up as Darui offered her the weapon.

It was a daggertail chain whip.

"I'd suggest you not use poison on the blades until you're capable of wielding it Tayuya-san." Tayuya had to laugh at that as she took the coiled up weapon in her hands. "I'll teach you how to wield it over the next two months. For now have a break before getting back to it. I've got some things to deal with, later." The three nodded as Darui rose his hand up in a farewell and left the training ground.

"I wonder what he's going to do?" Tayuya questioned as they watched Darui leave.

"Probably something better then to stare at half naked teenage girls." Ichigo mused before Tayuya kicked him in the gut making him hunch over and fall to his kness groaning slightly.

"You're a teenage boy! You're the one who should be looking!" Tayuya shouted at him before she huffed in annoyance. "Come on Samui."


	12. Chapter 12

"Man, this is a pain in the ass already. I knew we should of gotten here earlier." Tayuya mumbled as they walked through crowds of other Genin from all over as they headed through the gates of Konoha. It had been two months since they had begun their training under Darui, the three having progressed greatly in their training and their team work was all but perfect. Both Ichigo and Tayuya now wore Kumo headbands, Tayuya having hers wrapped loosely around her neck while Ichigo had his wrapped around his upper right arm.

"You're the one that wanted to get here early Tayuya-san, this was the earliest we could get here without cutting in on your training." Darui commented as they stood in line to get processed into the village. "We're here because you were eager to get here, we could of arrived tomorrow and this would of been a piece of cake without the other teams." Tayuya's face scrunched up in annoyance. "But I guess it wasn't all your fault, Samui-san seemed eager as well." Darui added.

"I like the atmosphere." Samui said glancing around noticing the shinobi from all different villages. "It also gives us a judge on the other competition. Right Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yeah something like that." Ichigo yawned as he stretched. "I just want to climb into a real bed, it's been over a week since I've slept in a nice soft bed."

"It's not like you haven't slept in worse conditions Ichigo." Tayuya told him. "Just under a month ago we were sleeping in the rain."

"Yeah I guess, but that was for training. We could of at least stopped at an inn or something on the way here." Ichigo told her making Tayuya tap her chin in thought. He was right.

"Yeah that's true, maybe Darui-sensei is just a tight ass." Tayuya suggested.

"Hey now, that's uncalled for Tayuya-san." Darui said as they walked forward in the line. "Just think of it as extra survival skills."

"What ever, let's just get to the place where staying. I could use a bath." Tayuya sighed.

"Perhaps a hot spring Tayuya-chan?" Samui questioned making the red head look over her shoulder at the blonde. "I hear that Konoha has some relaxing springs." She informed her. "We're here for a while, might as well get accustomed to the local attractions."

"Didn't I tell you to drop the suffix Samui?" Tayuya huffed in annoyance making Samui simply smile at her. "But you're right, let's find a hot spring and relax, it has been nothing but training for two months. A few days off won't kill us."

"Agreed." Samui smiled. "Should we find a co-ed hot spring Kurosaki-kun, if you'd like to join us." Tayuya rose an eyebrow with an amused expression on her face as he watched Ichigo pick at his ear at stare at the blonde.

"What for?" Ichigo questioned. "What's wrong with a normal hot spring?" He asked.

"Well you and Tayuya-chan like to shower together correct?" Samui said tilting her head making Tayuya's face heat up as she turned away from her team her face almost as red as her hair. A handful of times over the last two months she had forced her way into the bathroom when Ichigo was taking a shower and stepped in with him under the guise of 'saving water'. She didn't think Samui knew about that. Ichigo glanced at Tayuya and shook his head in amusement.

"It's fine Samui-chan, find a normal hot spring, I wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable." Samui simply nodded her head and turned back to the front of the line and started to have a conversation with Darui. Ichigo leaned down next to Tayuya who was standing in front of him. Resting his chin on her shoulder gently, she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and smiled lightly as she saw the peaceful expression on his face. "It's nice to be in a team again, huh Tayuya." He said softly.

"Yeah..." Tayuya nodded leaning her head slightly to the side so it was resting on Ichigo's slightly. "It's nice to know that someone else is watching our back again." She said closing her eyes. As the four entered the village after having their credentials checked they looked around the bustling streets, people having set up market stalls hoping to entice the visitors of the Chunnin Exams to buy a few things.

"So, Darui-sensei." Ichigo said turning to the dark skinned man who glanced at him. "Where are we staying." Darui looked around before shrugging.

"Not a clue Ichigo-san." The three 'genin' sweat dropped at that. "Was I suppose to set something up?"

"YES!" Tayuya shouted at him. "God damn it! There may be nothing left to rent!" The red head raged at him as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Perhaps we should speak with the Hokage?" Samui suggested quietly. "We're here for a reason correct? He'd be able to give us something."

"We do that and we only draw attention to ourselves." Ichigo told her. "We'll look around, try and find somewhere to stay. Worse comes to worse we'll camp out." He shrugged placing his hands in his pockets. "Darui-sensei can find us a place I'm sure, I'm going to look around for a bit maybe grab a bite to eat." He said raising his hand up in a parting wave already walking away.

"Hey ass hole I'm hungry too!" Tayuya shouted out after the orange haired teen. "Come on Samui, leave Darui-sensei to fix his damn mistake." Samui glanced at Darui who sighed and gestured with a nod of his head in the duo's direction to go and follow them to which she nodded and ran after Ichigo and Tayuya.

"_This isn't really what I expected when I __volunteered__ to teach them."_ Darui smiled to himself as he walked down a street going to find a place for them to stay for the duration of the Chunnin Exams.

X-X

"Just stop and ask someone for directions." Tayuya growled out in annoyance.

"I'm not lost." Ichigo replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"You certainly don't know where you're going." Tayuya accused him.

"I'll find a place."

"Would you like for me to ask someone for directions Kurosaki-kun?" Samui questioned with a knowing smile making Ichigo's eyebrow twitch but both girls couldn't see it as they were walking behind the orange haired teen.

"It's fine." Ichigo mumbled as they turned down a side street that didn't even look like it was going to lead them to a restaurant. Eyebrow twitching Ichigo glared down the empty street, wooden fences lining either side of the what looked to be a back alley between houses.

"So this doesn't look like a restaurant at all Ichigo." Tayuya told him with a knowing smirk as she walked by him. "Maybe we should turn around and head back to where we started." She mused turning around and began to walk backwards folding her arms behind her head as she did so grinning at the orange haired teen. Ichigo glared at her making her stick her tongue out at him, Samui chuckled in amusement next to Ichigo as they walked along, Tayuya turned back around only for someone to run into her sending them both to the ground.

"Gah!" She growled in annoyance as she landed on her butt a cry of help coming from the other direction. Ichigo looked down at Tayuya to see her glaring ahead making him glance up to see a young both with brown spiky hair a yellow shirt with the Konoha symbol in red, grey shorts, and a long blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Hey watch where you're going!" The boy shouted, yep that kid was about to get an earful. Tayuya wasn't one to say she made a mistake and if somebody accused her of making one, well there was going to be hell to pay.

"The fuck!" Tayuya roared getting to her feet and marching over to the kid before gripping him by the collar of his yellow shirt and hoisted him up off the ground having dragged him slightly through the dirt, his feet clearly a few feet off the ground as Tayuya glared up at him from where she was holding him up. "You run into someone and you accuse them of running into them! How about a fucking apology you damn brat!" The boy not knowing the temperament of the red head before him, he simply stuck out his tongue at her.

"Hey!" A shout reached their ears. "Put Konoharmu down!" Tayuya held the boy to one side as she looked down the street to see two more kids around the same age as the one in her grip with two slightly older kids with Konoha headbands, all running towards them.

"Or what?" Tayuya questioned with a smirk before she was hit in the back of the head making her whine as she dropped the boy who landed in the dirt with a thud. Tayuya looked to Ichigo who had chopped her on the head and glared at him.

"Temper temper, Tayuya-chan." Samui smiled at her making the red head glare of her shoulder at the blonde. Ichigo walked forward and crouched in front of Konohamaru as the other four reached him, the blonde and the pinkette were weary as Ichigo hefted Konohamaru up by his shoulders so that his feet were on the ground. Konohamaru looked at Ichigo with a raised eyebrow as Ichigo began to dust Konohamaru's shoulders off.

"You're name's Konohamaru?" Ichigo questioned dusting the boy's shoulder who nodded. "Can I give you some advice Kid?"

"Sure." Konohamaru told him as he looked into Ichigo's face.

"No matter what they did or who they are. Always be nice to a girl." He told him making Tayuya blush slightly as Konohamaru stared at Ichigo. "Sure Tayuya can be mean, she can have a bit of a mouth on her and if you're not careful she'll slit your throat when you're asleep but if you're nice to her, she is generally nice to you in return, and at times she's a hell of a good cook." Konohamaru paled slightly at the third last remark. "Also one last thing." Ichigo added.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Try not to bully shinobi alright?" Konohamaru quickly nodded his head making Ichigo smile lightly before placing his hand on Konohamaru's head and ruffling his hair up slightly before a thoughtful look came to his face and he looked over his shoulder at his two team mates before looking back to Konohamaru. "You wouldn't know where I could find a restaurant would you?" He whispered.

"AHAHAHA!" However Ichigo's whisper was not quiet enough as Tayuya was rolling on the ground laughing her ass off. Ichigo grit his teeth as he looked over his shoulder to see Samui sighing as she hung her head slightly at Tayuya's outburst.

"She tells me to ask for directions and then she laughs in my face about it." Ichigo mumbled as he stood up and scowled in annoyance.

"Just who are you guys, I can tell that your shinobi from Kumogakure by your headbands." The pinkette spoke up making the three 'genin' look towards her. She wore a red red dress with white circular designs without any sleeves, tight dark green shorts beneath it and a Konoha head banned which she used to accentuate her face. "You're here without authorisation!" Ichigo cocked his head to the side an amused smirk coming to his face.

"Says who sweetheart?" Ichigo questioned making Tayuya's eyebrow twitch as she glared at the back of Ichigo's head as the pink haired girl's cheeks heated up but she kept her cool and continued on.

"The Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning don't have an alliance, there is no reason Kumogakure shinobi would be in any way needed in Konoha. I as a shinobi of Konoha demand that you identify yourself and your reasons for being here." Ichigo simply continued to smirk.

"A Konoha shinobi huh?" Tayuya questioned as she walked forward eyeing the girl up and down. "Ichigo, let me handle this."

"Girls all yours Tayuya." Ichigo said taking a step back before walking over to the fence and leaned up against it.

"Careful Tayuya-chan, Kurosaki-kun may not care what you do, but remember, we're here for a reason." Samui warned making Tayuya glance over her shoulder at the busty blonde girl.

"Don't worry Samui, she's a _shinobi_ she can handle it." Tayuya said turning back to the pink haired girl. "What's your name?"

"Sakura Haruno, Konoha Genin." Sakura introduced herself.

"Uh, Sakura-chan..." The whiskered blonde boy called out from behind her. He was wearing a pair of dark blue shinobi pants with a short sleeved orange jacket over a mesh long sleeved undershirt, his blonde hair and blue eyes reminded Tayuya of someone but she just couldn't place it.

"Quiet Naruto-kun, I'm busy." Sakura said not taking her eyes off of the red head before her.

"But Sakura-chan..." Naruto tried to get out.

"Damn it Naruto-kun!" Sakura hissed turning around to face him. "You graduated at the top of the class with Sasuke-kun yet you can act like such an idiot sometimes." Sakura huffed before turning back to Tayuya who was smiling sweetly at her, her eyes closed.

"Well, Sakura-chan." Tayuya said opening her eyes the smile never leaving her face. "Let me introduce myself and my team. I'm Tayuya, this is one of my very close and personal friends Ichigo-kun, and another friend of mine Samui-chan." She introduced each to her.

"_Here we go."_ Ichigo thought to himself as he tilted his cap down over his eyes but still watching Tayuya from the corner of his eye under the shadows of his hat.

"We're also Genin, however we do hail from the Land of Lightning, like you said." Sakura nodded, although slightly confused at Tayuya's repeating of what she said before Sakura's blood ran cold as she stared into the emotionless dull eyes of what had once been a beautiful brown, no trace of the smile she once held upon her face. Everything seemed to happen in an instant after that, Samui and Ichigo both saw Tayuya grip Sakura by her throat take a step forward and kick out both of the girls legs from behind and slam Sakura into the dirt in a matter of seconds. Naruto and the three children all saw a blur before an upturn of dust.

Sakura's chest heaved as the wind was knocked out of her, she tried to take in a breath but the grip around her throat stopped her from doing so. She stared shakily up into Tayuya's emotionless eyes as the red head stared down at her.

"Don't think for a fucking instant you piece of shit that you know what being a shinobi means, you think just because you're in your village you're safe?" Tayuya growled out as she reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a form. "We have credentials to fucking be here, so before you go flashing your shinobi status around like a two bit whore ready to hike up her skirt at the smell of a dirty ryo bill. Fucking use that brain of yours and take a moment to fucking think!" Tayuya growled tightening her grip around the girls throat.

"Tayuya-chan." Tayuya instantly stopped at the sound of the suffix that came from Ichigo's mouth but before she could turn felt the cold steel of the kunai at her neck. Glancing up she saw long blonde hair and scowled. "Nice to see you again Naruko-chan." Ichigo greeted.

"Sorry I can't say the same." The blonde said turning to Ichigo who was still leaning up against the wooden fence the kunai still at Tayuya's throat. A frown came to Naruko's face as she saw Ichigo wasn't even fully paying attention to her, the brim of his cap covering his eyes from view, his arms folded in front of him.

"Naruko-chan!" Sakura wheezed out as Tayuya let her throat go, however remained down on one knee as the kunai blade was still at her throat. The blonde turned and looked down at Sakura and she smiled softly.

"It's alright now Sakura-san." Naruko told her. "Naruto-kun." She said looking up to her brother who was standing there watching the whole thing with wide eyes. "Take Sakura-san to the hospital, make sure she's ok."

"Naruko-chan, what about these guys?! They can't just get away with that!" Naruto shouted at her.

"Naruto-kun, Sakura-san is your main priority right now. Didn't Dad tell you that you're team is going to be in the Chunnin exams, you have to be in your prime to take these exams and you should of known that there would have been other Genin from other villages coming." She scolded him.

"I tried to tell Sakura-chan..." Naruto trailed off.

"Just take her to the hospital and make sure she's ok." Naruko told him to which he nodded and walked over to Sakura and helped her up. He shot a glance to Tayuya who was glaring up at his sister who hadn't moved. Naruko nodded to him to which he nodded in return and left with Sakura and the other three children who were stunned at what they had witnessed.

"You going to take that kunai away or am I going to have to make you." Tayuya growled before Naruko lowered the knife and pulled it away from Tayuya's neck and placed it in her weapon's pouch and took a few steps back allowing Tayuya to stand once more. Samui was the only one who saw Ichigo's body relax. She didn't doubt that if Naruko had tried anything Ichigo would of stopped her, with force.

"How long have you been following us." Tayuya glared at the blonde.

"Since we walked through the gates Tayuya." Ichigo said tipping his hat back up while he unfolded his arms before placing his hands in his pockets. "Right?" Naruko simply looked away from him. Tayuya 'tched' before folding her arms in annoyance, the last she had seen of Naruko was when they had met with the Hokage alongside the Raikage two months ago.

"You shouldn't be causing trouble among Konoha shinobi." Naruko said turning to Tayuya who glared back at her. "Sakura-san was unaware that the Chunnin Exams were taking place. It was an honest mistake."

"Mistakes get you killed." Tayuya growled pushing past her. "We going?" Ichigo nodded as both Samui and Tayuya began to walk down the street. They both stopped as they saw that Ichigo wasn't following and turned to see him glancing sidelong at Naruko who was doing the same.

"Something on your mind Naruko-chan?"

"Am I going to have to have you escorted by Anbu while you're here, or are you going to be able to keep from causing more troubles." She questioned making Ichigo chuckle lightly as he pulled his hat from his head and ran a hand through his spiky orange hair before placing his hat back on his head.

"We'll behave Naruko-chan." Naruko simply nodded before jumping away leaving Ichigo to chuckle lightly as he walked up to Tayuya and Samui. "Well, let's go get something to eat, shall we?"


	13. Chapter 13

The three Kumogakure 'genin' walked down the street of Konoha in the morning light, heading towards the Konoha shinobi academy where they were told the first part of the Chunnin Exam was to be held. Ichigo held his hands folded behind his head as he walked, Tayuya was picking at her ear while Samui... Samui was staring at the ground as she walked, her face just as red as Tayuya's hair. Tayuya glanced out the corner of her eye at the blonde and a smirk grew on her face.

"Something wrong Samui?" The blonde's head shot up and she stared at Tayuya who was smirking at her. "You're looking kind of red."

"W-What? No, n-nothing's wrong." She got out stumbling over her words slightly, she was usually so calm and composed she wasn't one to stutter. Tayuya's smirk only grew as she saw her team mate stutter nervously.

"You know, the other day you were the one who suggested it." Samui's eyes shot wide open as she stared at Tayuya. "Darui-sensei simply must have taken your suggestion into consideration when he chose a place for us to stay." Tayuya told him. "Plus with the way our room connected to the spring, it was going to be unavoidable at one point or another."

"She still embarrassed about this morning?" Ichigo questioned looking over his shoulder to see the two talking.

"Yeah, she's all flustered cause she saw your junk." Tayuya told him with a grin before turning back to Samui. "Don't worry about it girl, he saw you too. You got nothing to be ashamed of, girls would kill to have a body like yours." The red head told her, hiding her own irritation well.

"I'm not worried that he saw my body Tayuya-chan. I just feel that I intruded on your bath together..." Tayuya's eyebrow twitched at the first remark however she remained quiet.

"What Tayuya causing a ruckus because we ran out of soap? I don't think you intruded on much." Ichigo chuckled lightly. "Anyway, it's over and done with now. Let's just move on." He said as they continued walking forward.

"Yeah it's over with now, so you might as well take a bath with us from now on." Tayuya told the blonde making Samui's head shoot up a shocked look on her face. "I mean, you've seen us both in the buff now, we've seen you in the buff, who cares now right? Plus Ichigo doesn't care." Both turned to Ichigo who was walking ahead still picking at his ear. "Although he could at least pay a little more attention to the female form." She mumbled under her breath.

"You said you've bathed together for the last six years right Tayuya-chan?" Samui questioned.

"Yeah, something like that." Tayuya nodded in agreement. "Apart from the last nine months anyway." She confirmed.

"Well, maybe Kurosaki-kun has become accustomed to the female form and it no longer bothers him." Samui suggested to the red head. "From what I've seen Tayuya-chan you have a very nice figure." Tayuya's face heated up as she huffed and folded her arms and looked away slightly embarrassed. "Or perhaps Kurosaki-kun isn't a pervert."

"Yeah I guess." Tayuya sighed folding her arms behind her head. "But eh, who cares now right? We got an exam to go to." Samui nodded her head in agreement as they made their way to the shinobi academy. The three stopped before the academy's front doors, Tayuya and Ichigo looking at the building with mild confusion while Samui remained quiet. "You're fucking with me right, this is where they train the shinobi of this village?"

"It appears to be just a normal school." Samui said glancing around noticing a swing on a tree.

"No wonder that girl was such a pompous ass the other day, she probably thinks that being a shinobi entitles her to do what ever she wants." Tayuya huffed. "This isn't a place a shinobi should be learning, it should be barren devoid of things you can't get attached too."

"It's of no concern to us." Ichigo told them with a slight yawn. "Let's go." Pushing open the red doors the three headed inside. Heading up the first two flights of stairs they walked along the empty corridor of the second floor heading for the third set of stairs at the end of the hall.

"Wait up a second." Tayuya said stopping at a door that read 201 atop of it. She furrowed her eyebrows before turning back to the other two. "There was a Genjutsu placed here not that long ago, it's faint but I can still sense the chakra that was used to make it." She explained.

"Guess someone wanted to test the Genin out." Samui told her to which she nodded in agreement.

"Pretty lame test, it was barely hidden at all. Some no brain kid with any trace of Genjutsu training would know how to break it. Pathetic really." She sighed before they started to move again. Walking up the third flight of stairs they headed down the hall only to see a man walking towards them, hands in his pockets. He was fairly tall fair skinned man, with silver gravity defying hair that spiked upwards. He wore what the three had seen other Jounin wearing, dark blue shinobi pants and long sleeved shinobi shirt underneath a green jounin flak jacket. What stuck out the most though was that his head banned covered his left eye from view.

"You kids are running a bit late don't you think." He spoke up as he headed towards them. "Don't worry you're not too late, but it's almost time, you better hurry." The three eyed him before nodding and headed past him heading for the doors at the end of the hall.

"That was Sharingan Kakashi." Samui told them.

"Seriously?" Tayuya questioned looking over her shoulder to see Kakashi heading down the stairs. "He just looked like a normal guy."

"He doesn't matter." Ichigo told them as they stopped in front of the double doors. "We walk thought those doors I doubt there will be any chances of turning back." He stated looking forward before he was elbowed in the ribs making him groan slightly as he mock glared at Tayuya. "The hell was that for?"

"It's as if you were saying we weren't going to walk through the door ass." She told him with a huff crossing her arms. "Geeze after everything we've been through in the last nine months you'd think that we'd just turn away?"

"Keep talking like that people will start thinking you were pregnant." Ichigo told her with a slight chuckle making her glare at him making him smirk before he smiled at her which was returned with a smile of her own.

"I feel slightly under dressed." Samui told them making the two who were wearing the white uniform turn back to Samui who was still in her usual clothing. Looking down at herself Samui glanced back up at Ichigo and Tayuya. "Do I need a uniform like your own?" She questioned.

"I don't think so Samui." Ichigo chuckled. "Tayuya's changing as soon as the first exams begin." The Quincy told her.

"Wait, why after the first exam?" Samui questioned.

"Well we've already got a this figured out. We're in the academy because it's probably a written exam, being camouflaged isn't a necessity." Ichigo explained to which Samui nodded in agreement.

"And you?" The blonde questioned.

"This idiot doesn't need camouflage, you won't see him until you do. He wears the uniform as a handicap to everyone else." Tayuya told her. "Now let's go before we actually do run out of time and don't get to enter." Tayuya said turning around and pushing both doors open and walking forward into the room.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze! Son of the Fourth Hokage and I'm going to beat every one of ya! Ya hear that! I'm making Chunnin this year! None of you other chumps stand a chance!" The blonde kid that the three Kumo 'genin' noticed was the same one from the other day shouted at as he pointed over the other candidates in a dramatic pose. There were ten people in all standing before the three Kumo shinobi, their eyes scanned and both Ichigo and Tayuya tensed up as they both saw Kabuto chuckling at the blonde's antics.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our old friend." Tayuya's voice called out and both smirked as they saw Kabuto tense and turn his gaze towards them eyes wide behind his rounded glasses. "How you been, Kabuto." Kabuto swallowed as the other nine in front turned to face them.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever had the pleasure..." Kabuto started before Sakura recognised the trio immediately.

"Hey! You're the ones from the other day!" She shouted making Tayuya scowl as she turned back to the pinkette, however Ichigo kept his eyes on Kabuto the entire time. Ichigo could clearly see confusion in Kabuto's eyes not knowing why of all places the two who had left Orochimaru's service had come here. Nine months ago they had disappeared off the map and now... here they were.

"I want an apology from you! You attacked me without a reason! That's an offence you know!" Sakura told Tayuya.

"Oh? Well I'm sorry... usually I kill the person who I attack, would you like me to reconcile my mistake?" Tayuya questioned tilting her head to the side smiling sweetly as she took a step forward, Sakura took a step back before someone else stood in front of her making Tayuya open her eyes, her fake smile disappearing from her face as she stared into the dark eyes of Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke wore a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar with the Uchiha crest on the back with white arm warmers, his shinobi headband was wrapped around his forehead.

"That's my team mate you threatened." Sasuke told the red head. "Apologise." He said narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Man you sure are getting told to apologise a lot today Tayuya-chan, that's twice in the last five minutes." Samui smiled behind the red head. "Perhaps we should take our seats."

"Why? The fun's just beginning." Tayuya smirked her hand twitching at her side. Three feet in front of her was Orochimaru's ultimate goal, all she had to do was slit his throat and it'd hinder the Snake Sannin for a while. Sure there were other Uchiha in the village, but Orochimaru had his eyes set on this Uchiha for some time now.

In an instant Tayuya had pulled a kunai out and swung her hand up, blade arching in a diagonal stroke ready to slice through Sasuke's jugular, the Uchiha's eyes were wide activating his one tomoe sharingan on instinct, he didn't even see Ichigo move. Tayuya's hand was stopped a mere centimetre from Sasuke's throat as Ichigo simply held her forearm in his grip. Sasuke's hand had just reached his kunai pouch to defend himself, if the orange haired teen hadn't stopped Tayuya's hand, he'd be dead.

"Ichigo." Tayuya growled out glancing at Ichigo who hadn't even looked away from Kabuto to stop her. "The fuck?!" She shouted at him.

"I promised Kizzy a hunt." Ichigo told her making Tayuya's eyes widen before a grin came to her face before she started to laugh.

"Oh this is going to be fun." Tayuya pulled her arm from Ichigo's grip and put away her kunai. Ichigo took his eyes from Kabuto's and stared into Sasuke's sharingan, the Uchiha's body was shaking as he looked into Ichigo's brown eyes.

"Listen here Uchiha-san and listen well." Ichigo told him, the temperature dropping several degrees as Ichigo filled his voice with pure killing intent that made the Uchiha and the other Genin along side him start to shake in fear. "Next time I see those eyes of yours, I'm ripping them from your skull."

"Then you'll have to go through me." A voice said from behind, making Ichigo look over his shoulder to come face to face with a young girl around thirteen or fourteen years old. She had dark raven hair pulled up into a pony tail that reached down to her mid back, a high collared blue shirt similar to the same one Sasuke was wearing, black shorts with blue shinobi sandals. Her eyes were blazing red with the three tomoe sharingan. As Ichigo stared into the blazing sharingan he heard the girl gasp making him inwardly smirk.

"You have no chakra!" She gasped.

"Tayuya." Ichigo said looking over at the red head. "Kizzy's hunt just got bigger, the others might want to join in." Tayuya's smirk only grew as she glanced between the two Uchiha, she could see the resemblance between the two but there was no way that they were siblings, possibly cousins.

"_Fucking fucked up incest filled clan."_ Tayuya thought to herself as she glanced at Samui who seemed confused about what was going on. The blonde's blue eyes met Tayuya's and the red head nodded at her. "Let's go find a seat Samui." The blonde nodded as Ichigo glanced back at Kabuto who had narrowed his eyes slightly, a simple smirk tugged at Ichigo's lips before he turned and walked towards where Tayuya and Samui were heading. Immediately all of the rookie Genin turned to Kabuto who had ninja info cards.

"Sorry, I have nothing on any Kumogakure teams." Was all Kabuto stated as he watched the three shinobi walk to the far side of the room. Across the room were a set of three Otogakure shinobi who were staring at the three Kumo shinobi with wide eyes knowing two of the three.

"It's Tayuya-sama and Ichigo-sama." The female of the group said. "It's really them, they... they're alive." She said in awe as the three stared with wide eyes at the two who had once left Orochimaru's side.

"Th-they actually did it." Another with black hair responded. "They actually left..."

"Quiet." The third hushed them. "We're not in the clear to be talking about such things." He informed them. "Cast them from your thoughts, they're not our priority." The two glanced at one another but nodded as they turned back in their seats. As Ichigo sat on the table that Tayuya was sitting at next to Samui a large burst of smoke filled the front of the classroom.

"_Guess we're starting."_ Ichigo mused to himself as everyone stared at the front of the room.

"All right you baby faced degenerates! Pipe down and listen up!" A voice from the smoke cloud called out as it started to disperse to reveal a jounin along with several chunnin. "It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your first proctor of this years Chunnin Exams and from this moment, your worst enemy." At that moment Tayuya yawned breaking the dead silence of the room and getting everyone's attention. Ibiki turned his attention to the Kumo shinobi all seated at a desk and scowled. "You shinobi from Kumogakure! Who told you, that you could fight?"

"This is an exam to become Chunnin right?" Tayuya questioned with a bored tone. "I figured that was what we were here for. Fight, impress the whole nine yards."

"Start something like that again and I'll fail you here and now!"

"We apologise Procotor-san, won't happen again. You have my word." Ichigo said as he tilted his cap back to sit on the back of his head revealing more of his spiky orange hair. Ibiki simply smirked before glancing over the other candidates of the exams.

"I'll say this once so listen up, there will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without the authority of your proctor and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately, got it?" He questioned looking over the room, several of the more nervous shinobi nodded in understanding.

"Bunch of fucking bullshit, is that for just this part of the exam or the whole exam?" Tayuya questioned. "Kizzy's going to be disappointed if it's the whole exam."

"I won't leave him too disappointed, if he doesn't get his hunt I'll buy him a steak." Ichigo told her.

"Now if we're ready, we will proceed to the first stage of the Chunnin Exam, hand in your paper work and then you'll be given a number to where you will be seated. We will start the written test when you are all seated. Ichigo glanced to Tayuya who smirked up at him and nodded.

"Let's go then." Both Tayuya and Samui nodded following Ichigo up to the front of the classroom and got into line ready to receive their seating positions. Standing before Ibiki he looked down at the three of them before handing them all numbers glancing down at the numbers they had, Samui had sixteen Tayuya had fifty four while Ichigo had seventy eight.

"Well good luck you guys." Tayuya smirked smacking hands with Ichigo who grinned in return and nodded. Tayuya nodded at Samui who headed for her seat while Ichigo and Tayuya heading for their own, Ichigo heading to fifty four where Tayuya was suppose to sit and Tayuya to sixty eight where Ichigo was suppose to sit, both having swapped placement cards when they had clasped hands. Heading down the aisle of the fifty's Ichigo passed a meek looking girl in a cream coloured jumpsuit then passed Naruko's little brother who was seated at fifty three.

"You're Naruto-san right?" Ichigo questioned as he sat down making the blonde haired shinobi look up at him. Naruto simply stared at him. "I know you're sister, we go a little way's back."

"You know Naruko-chan?" Naruto questioned making Ichigo nod.

"Yeah, we met a couple of months ago, my team was on a break and we had some time off and we happened to run into her along with the Sannin Jiraiya."

"Ero Sennin too?" Ichigo nodded as he chuckled. "I don't think I caught your name..."

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo held his hand out to greet Naruto.

"Nice to meet you Ichigo, sorry to say but I'ma cream you in this test." Naruto grinned at him.

"You good at written exams then?"

"Ah... well I wouldn't say good..." Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "But I guess I'm good enough to pass!" He laughed.

"Hey about what happened the other day, Tayuya gets a little bit heated in the moment. I'm sure your team mate didn't deserve being the brunt of Tayuya's travel frustration. So I'd like to apologise on her behalf. It was rude." Ichigo told him.

"It's fine really, Sakura-chan has some mild..." He glanced around to see Sakura glancing over to Tayuya who was in the same row as her. "...anger issues herself." He whispered getting Ichigo to chuckle.

"I guess we deal with a bit of the same situation then." Tayuya watched as Naruto and Ichigo laughed a few rows in front of her making her scowl in annoyance, she never understood how Ichigo could just talk to someone like he did, sure most of what he spoke about was useless and it was an attempt to get information out of people or even earn their trust but even so... Glancing down the same row she was seated in she saw Sakura staring at her making the red head shake her head in amusement as she turned to the front of the class. Seeing that everyone was now seated she turned her attention to Ibiki to see him ready to start talking once more.

"There are a few rules you need to be aware of and I won't answer any questions so you better pay attention the first time around." He said as he turned to face the chalk board that was behind him. "Firstly, the written exam is conducted on a point deduction system. You will all start with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted for every answer you get wrong. Secondly the entire team will either pass or fail on the score of the entire team!"

"WHAT!" Roars from all around the classroom could be heard.

"SILENCE!" Ibiki roared in return. "I have my reasons so shut up and listen, thirdly, the sentinels you see positioned around you are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating, and for every incident they spot they will deduct two points from the culprits score. If they catch you five times you will be dismissed from the exams along with your entire team. Anyone fool enough to get caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be. The last rule is this, the final question won't be handed out until fifteen minutes before the end of the exam. BEGIN!" At that the entire room was filled with the sounds of pencils on paper. All except three.

"Psst! What are you doing? The test has begun." Naruto said softly.

"It's fine, no rush." Ichigo told him in return as he rested his hand on his chin and glanced to his left to see the person opposite him already on his second questioned which made him smirk. Raising his hand up he tilted his hat to the left slightly giving the signal to Tayuya. Closing his eyes he simply waited. Tayuya saw the tilting of Ichigo's hat and smirked before glancing to both sides to see both shinobi either side of her working away at the tests. Smirking slightly she glanced up past Ichigo to see where Samui was sitting and saw her shaking her head, her pencil working on the page making her raise an eyebrow.

"_She's actually doing the test? Well that's her choice, she is pretty smart, not all boobs huh Samui?"_ Tayuya smirked to herself before she saw the blonde glance over her shoulder and sent her a mock glare making Tayuya chuckle slightly to herself. She mouthed 'what' to her only for the blonde to shake her head and go back to her test.

Thirty minutes into the exam and several teams had already been disqualified. Glancing to the side to see the shinobi on her left had already finished she rose her hand to her mouth and covered it slightly, a hand beneath the table running through one handed hand signs before she started to whistle softly. The shinobi next to her went rigid before swaying slightly as the Genjutsu took effect. The Shinobi wouldn't even realise he would be handing a fully completed test to her.

The shinobi slid the piece of paper over and Tayuya got to erasing the name and replacing it with her own before sliding the blank test back to the shinobi, constantly whistling a slight tune until the Shinobi wrote his own name on the blank test. Stopping the Genjutsu Tayuya smirked as the shinobi came back to his senses and looked down at the test in front of him and shouted out in shock.

"Quiet or you'll be disqualified!" One of the sentinels called out the shinobi went to try and say something before a kunai hit his now blank page. "Sixty seven! You and your team are disqualified!" Tayuya smirked as the sentinels had to drag him out of the exam room. Glancing up at Ichigo she saw him tapping his fingers on the desk and began to perform the same Genjutsu on the Kusagakure shinobi to his left. The only difference was she had to whistle a little louder and use her chakra to direct the sound towards the Kusa shinobi.

Watching the exchange between Ichigo and the Kusa shinobi she cancelled the Genjutsu and toyed with her pencil for the remainder of the exam while she wandered what the Kusa shinobi was thinking happened to his test, he'd be kicked out if he made a fuss. When the forty five minute struck Ibiki cleared his throat gaining everyone's attention.

"Alright! Listen up, here's the tenth and final question!" Ibiki called out. "But before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of." Ibiki continued before the door at the back of the room opened, every shinobi in the room turning back to look at the Suna genin that just walked back in from his bathroom break. "Ah, made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening, take your seat." The echoes of the footsteps resounded through the entire classroom. "These rules are unique to question ten, listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you. Rule number one, each of you are free to choose whether to take the question or not."

"Whoa! What happens if we don't take the question!" A girl from Suna called out in shock.

"Then you will get zero points on the whole exam regardless of your answers and you will fail." Murmurs ran through the room of why people would choose to fail. "You didn't let me finish. If you choose to take the question but answer it incorrectly, not only will you fail but you will be banned from taking the Chunnin Exams ever again!"

"Bullshit! There are tons of people here who have taken the exams before!" Another shinobi called out with a white dog on his head, all he got in return was Ibiki's laughter.

"I guess you're just unlucky then." Ibiki told them. "I wasn't making the rules in the past. Of course you can choose not to take the question and you can try your luck at the next Chunnin Exams." Ibiki looked over the class room full of Genin before smirking. "Now, all of you who don't want to take the tenth and final question, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and you will be taken from the exam along with your team." Slowly but surely one by one, people started to raise their hands and leave the exam with their teams.

Ichigo glanced to his side to see Naruto looking around frantically wandering what he should do, for the son of the Hokage, he sure was jumpy. As Ibiki looked around the room he saw that nobody else was going to leave and he smirked.

"So that's it? No one else?" Silence greeted Ibiki as he glanced over everyone. "Then, I only have one thing to say to you all. You all pass."

Dead Silence.

"WHAT!" Shouts came from the class as shinobi yelled out wanting to know what he was talking about.

"You have all passed the first part of the exam." Ibiki said before smiling. "The tenth question was the main point of this test, we needed to see how you would react to the situation at hand. How you would gather information in a seemingly impossible situation. The last part of this exam was what you were willing to sacrifice for the better of your missions. You are all on your way to being remarkable shino-!" Ibiki was cut off as the window to his right smashed open glass shattering the ground as a bundle of cloth seemingly flew into the room before uncurling, four kunai pinning the banner to the roof and floor as a woman uncurled herself from within.

"Well alright then! Time for the second test! My name's Anko Mitarashi your second proctor for the Chunnin Exams!"

"You're also way to early." Ibiki mumbled from behind the banner making the purple haired woman blush in embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head and started to laugh awkwardly. "Go on, they're all yours, I was just about done with them anyway." Ibiki sighed in annoyance.

"All right! Heads up brats and listen closely! You may be thinking 'fuck yeah, passed the first exam', but I'm warning you now." She grinned evilly. "You'll be pissing yourselves before morning! I'll be making sure of that! Meet me at the front of the academy in five minutes and I'll take you to the second part of the exams! Move out!" Both Ibiki and Anko watched from the front of the room as the Genin filed out, all but one remained seated simply having propped his head up on his hand staring at the two Jounin. "Didn't you hear me Brat? I told you to meet me at the front of the academy."

"I'm well aware of that fact Proctor-san." Ichigo told her. "I'm just more incline to know what the both of you think about me and my team being here is all." Anko's eyes narrowed slightly and went to take a step forward before Ibiki rose a hand and stopped her. "Is there some grudge you hold against me? I don't think I've ever offended you before." Ichigo mused as he continued to stare into the narrowed eyes of Anko. "Or is it something else?"

"Meet me at the front of the academy with the rest of the Genin." Anko said through gritted teeth. Ichigo simply shrugged his shoulders rose from the table while picking his hat up and placing it under his arm before he placed his hands in his pockets and headed for the door to the class room. Stopping before it he glanced over at Anko and Ibiki before smiling slightly.

"It's actually an honour to meet my senpai." He said before leaving the room Anko glaring daggers after him. Ibiki glanced at Anko before back at the door with a frown on his face.

"_How much do they know about Anko?"_


	14. Chapter 14

Tayuya grunted as she rolled her shoulders in annoyance, having changed out of the regular clothes she usually wore. She now had on a mesh armour long sleeved shirt that reached all the way to have finger holes in them over her hands beneath a front metal plate that latched around her back with several thick straps. She wore a pair of form fitting black pants that reached just below her knee her usual weapons pouches still adorned to her legs per usual. The only thing she kept from her usual outfit were the boots that came up over the end of the pants, her dagger tailed chain whip resting at her hip in easy reach.

"God I hate this thing!" Tayuya growled slamming her hand against the metal plate that covered her chest. "It's so damn heavy!"

"It's just because your use to the light material of the uniform Tayuya." Ichigo told her. "Plus it doesn't slow you down so there's nothing to complain about, apart from the fashion." He smirked making her eyebrow twitch as she swung her hand out to which he ducked underneath simple enough. "Plus, you know why you're wearing it." Tayuya frowned slightly as her eyes gazed over all the other genin gathered before the large forest that was fenced off. Somewhere out there among the Genin was Orochimaru.

"You really think he'll be after us?" She questioned softly.

"We're going after what he's after, so we're bound to run into him." Ichigo told her. "Don't know if he'll be out for blood but knowing him..."

"Yeah, I know." Tayuya said glancing down to the ground before she felt Ichigo's hand on her shoulder and looked up at him to see that he held a small warm smile on his face making her cheeks heat up slightly as she stared into his brown eyes, she liked to think that she was the only one who saw this side of Ichigo.

"Every thing's going to be ok, I won't let anything happen to you. Alright?" Tayuya's face went the same colour as her hair as she heard Ichigo's words making her turn back and stare at the ground and nod her head dumbly making Ichigo chuckle.

"Yo-You're an ass!" She growled in annoyance. "Always making fun of me!"

"What, I can't help it Tayuya." Ichigo told her. "You're just so cute all flustered like that." Ichigo told her as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"C-Cu-Cute? You, you think I'm cute?" A rare girl moment for Tayuya as she now stared at Ichigo, only a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Well..." Ichigo started as he scratched his cheeks slightly. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, ever since we were kids I thought you were kinda cute... especially when you got all flustered. Why do you think I tease you all the time?" Tayuya just stared at him not knowing what to say, it really wasn't a love confession or anything.

"Well you're just an idiot." Tayuya huffed out making Ichigo chuckle slightly. _"__I... can't believe he thinks I'm cute..."_ Tayuya thought to herself smiling slightly her cheeks were warm and she felt happy. She lifted her head when she heard footsteps to see Samui heading towards them massaging her shoulders slightly as she rolled her head back and forth making Tayuya scowl slightly as she glanced down at her own chest, to Samui, it didn't even compare.

"Everything alright Tayuya-chan? You seem upset?" Samui questioned looking at the red head with her head tilted slightly to the side, Tayuya simply looked away from the blonde and huffed in annoyance.

"What'd Darui-sensei say Samui-chan?" Ichigo questioned.

"Not anything we didn't already know. After the second exam, pending on how many of the teams are left we may go straight to the third round or have a set of preliminaries." She explained, to which both Tayuya and Ichigo nodded too. "Everything alright over here?" She questioned eyeing Tayuya who seemed to be in a decent mood, even while scowling.

"Peachy." Tayuya told her. Samui turned to Ichigo who shrugged.

"She was getting all upset over her armour." Ichigo told her making the blonde chuckle lightly behind her hand before they heard someone clear their throat and turned to face Anko Mitarashi who was standing a few feet from them.

"Ah, Proctor-san." Samui smiled at the Jounin. "Something we can help you with?" She questioned.

"You two." She said eyeing Tayuya and Ichigo. "We need to talk."

"Something wrong Senpai?" Tayuya smirked.

"Wipe that stupid grin of your face before I make it stay there permanently." Anko told her making Tayuya narrow her eyes at the jounin.

"I'd like to see you try." Tayuya growled before Ichigo placed a hand on her shoulder gripping tightly to hold her in place.

"What can we do for you?" Ichigo questioned walking forward to stand before Anko. "If it's not about the exams, I'm sure personal matters can wait." Anko bit into her lip, so much of her memories were gone, so much she didn't know, so much that she wanted back. Ichigo leant forward and he could feel Anko tense as he stared over her shoulder his mouth at her ear. "For all we know Orochimaru is watching us right now." He whispered. "Not very appropriate is it?" Leaning back Ichigo smiled at her. "We have nothing against you Anko-senpai, nor would we like to. I wasn't lying before, it's an honour to meet you, we have been in the same situation. But right now it isn't the time to talk about it." Anko stared into Ichigo's brown eyes to see that he was telling her the truth, she glanced to Tayuya who was scowling in annoyance.

"Sorry." Anko told them to which Ichigo nodded. "The second exam is about to start, you should be ready."

"You shouldn't be warning the threat." Tayuya told her. "We're much stronger then those Genin, they're going to need all the help they can get."

"We'll discuss that soon. There are a few things you need to know about." Anko said before turning and walking off.

"Why do you always cause fights Tayuya?" Ichigo questioned looking over his shoulder. "You of all people respect Anko-senpai, so why?" Tayuya simply folded her arms and turned away making Ichigo shake his head before turning to Samui. "Are you ready Samui-chan, I'd hate it if for some reason you didn't get promoted to Chunnin during this."

"Raikage-sama has seen it fit to promote me to Chunnin the moment I step foot back into Kumogakure, regardless of the exam's outcome." She told him. "Your concern is much appreciated Kurosaki-kun."

"Well, let's make you a Chunnin here anyway, saves the Raikage some paperwork." He told her making the blonde giggle lightly as she nodded her head before Anko called for everyone's attention.

"All right everyone, listen up." Anko called out making the Genin turn to the jounin standing before the large forest. "I'm not going to sugar coat this bullshit, I've had a rough day already. This here is the Forest of Death, also known as the forty fourth training ground. If you're not on guard at all times, you'll die. Eat the wrong thing, you'll die. If you run into an enemy, there is the possibility that you will die. It got it's nickname for a reason, Jounin have fallen to this forest, and you're just Genin and guess what you get to spend five days in here." The entire crowd of Genin were speechless, Anko had a look on her face to show that she was dead serious. "So you fuck up, your practically signing your own death certificate." She said looking over the Genin before her before she grinned. "On a totally unrelated note, I need you guys to sign these consent forms."

"Consent forms?" An Ame shinobi questioned. "What for? We're here already."

"Yeah well, some of you are going to wind up dead and never see outside of this forest again, so I need you guys to sign these forms so it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass later, politics and all that, I'm sure you understand." Anko told them pulling a stack of forms from her tan overcoat and waving them out infront of her.

"It is a lovely ass Anko-senpai, hate for it to have bite marks." Ichigo called out before Tayuya smacked him in the back of the head. Anko's eyebrow twitched as she watched the red head berate Ichigo. She sighed as she rose a hand to her forehead in annoyance.

"Look at my ass again and I'll cut you my cute little Kouhai. I've cut people over less." Anko smiled sweetly at him making the Genin in front of her sweat drop, this proctor was insane.

"You're not making this situation any better!" Tayuya snapped at her making Anko laugh heartedly.

"Here pass these out will ya." Anko instructed turning to the closest Genin and handed the stack of forms to them. "Guess I should give you guys a run down of this little shindig huh?"

"Na dah ya think!" Tayuya shouted at her.

"The first thing you need to know this test will tax every single one of your survival skills. First I give you a map of the training ground look over to your leisure within or straight away when you get it in a bit. This test consists of an anything goes battle to get your hands on these." She said pulling out two scrolls. "You need both to pass, there are twenty seven teams in total, half will have the Heaven scroll half will have the Earth scroll. Your job is to gain both scrolls and head to the tower in the center of the training ground. Your entire team must have accomplished this, lose a member you fail, fail to accomplish gaining an extra scroll you fail."

"Hey, what do they fertiliser these trees with Samui-chan? They're huge don't ya think." Ichigo questioned as he looked at the large trees within the forest of death.

"I'm not sure Kurosaki-kun, it's hard to imagine that they managed to grow these trees without some sought of special nutrients." Anko's eyebrow began to twitch as the blonde girl with a bigger bust then her own and the orange haired teen talked about gardening. "They're a sight to behold, I've never seen trees so big."

"This test won't be easy." Anko called out ignoring the two for the time being. "Half of you won't make it through. There is even the chance that less then half will make it. That's it, look over your consent forms, sign them hand them in and get your scroll, you've got twenty minutes. Then, on behalf of the Forest of Death. Welcome to Hell."

"Welcome to hell huh, been working on that one liner?" Tayuya huffed as Anko and herself glared at one another as the other Genin started to move away to look over their consent forms.

"You two really should stop agonising the proctor." Samui said. "It's in her right for her to give penalties."

"Like it'll matter." Tayuya said signing the form they had been handed along side the other two. "It'll just make it more fun, speaking of fun..." She glanced over to where a team of three were conversing, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. "How you planning on letting Kizzy track them?"

"I'm working on that." Ichigo told her. "If you'll excuse me for a second." He said heading over to the three genin of Konoha. Whistling a slight tune he tapped Naruto on the shoulder who turned around with wide eyes. "Hey there Naruto-san, I see you made it through the first exam ok."

"Yeah, sure did!" Naruto laughed. "Oh, I caught up with Naruko-chan just before coming over here, I said hello for you."

"Thanks, last time we spoke she seemed a little on edge from Tayuya's little outburst." Turning his eyes to Sakura who was eyeing him warily. "Sorry for my team mates lack of self control. She's got a bit of a temper."

"So do you it seems." Sakura said remembering how he had threatened Sasuke.

"Well I just wanted to come over and apologise, a dear friend of mine was attacked by an Uchiha once." Ichigo said offering his hand out to Sasuke who had his arms folded over his chest. "I never really got over it and I kind of got lost in the heat of the moment." Sasuke glanced down at his hand before glancing up into Ichigo's brown eyes before accepting the offered hand.

"Don't worry about it, not like it bothered me all that much. Idle threats don't matter mu-che!" Pulling his hand back from Ichigo's he watched as blood ran down his hand. "The hell?"

"Shit sorry, must have had something sharp in my glove, I'm usually sorting through rubble in D-rank mission's so sometimes pieces of glass get stuck and I miss some pieces. I've got some bandages if you want." Ichigo offered.

"No it's fine." Sasuke said looking at his hand, a trail of blood running down from the palm of his hand. "It's barely anything, Naruto Sakura let's go."

"Sorry again." Ichigo said as the three walked away. Ichigo sighed and headed back to Samui and Tayuya all the while taking off his blood soaked glove and emptying it into his hand to reveal a small sharp pin covered in blood. "Sufficient enough Tayuya?"

"Did you really have to apologise to that pink haired skank?" Tayuya questioned. "It's not like I'm sorry for what I did to the stupid bitch."

"Like it matters now, we have our scent." Ichigo told her. "Although I doubt the other Uchiha would fall for such a thing."

"You're right about that." Samui said looking over to another team of Konoha Shinobi to see the Uchiha female from earlier watching Ichigo's every move. "Let's go hand in our forms." Both nodded to the blondes suggestion and headed over to the booth where several chunnin were handing out the scrolls and accepting the consent forms. It was a simple booth with coverings so nobody would see what scroll other teams got. Walking within, having been the first team to sign the forms.

"Here ya go turd munchers." Tayuya said placing her form on the bench. "Where's the scroll?"

"The proctor has special circumstances for you three. You'll have to wait for her." One of the Chunnin explained.

"The fuck!?" Tayuya shouted. "Give me the damn scroll before a shove a kunai up your ass!" Tayuya threatened making the Chunnin pale as he saw a Tayuya reach for her weapons pouch.

"Enough. You didn't have to wait long." Anko said from behind them. "Listen you three, you're obviously more powerful then these Genin, I'd even say you two are above Chunnin, being trained under Orochimaru I wouldn't doubt it for a second. Under the orders of Hokage-sama, you are to be given both scrolls."

"You're fucking with us right? Samui is just a regular Genin, she's actually here for this fucking test!" Tayuya snarled.

"And she's getting a free pass into the next part of the exam." Anko told her. "Sorry, but this is an order from the Hokage."

"As much as I'm against having a free pass Tayuya-chan, it'd be slaughter if we went up against any of these Genin teams. It'd cause problems between other villages and the Raikage." Samui tried to calm the red head.

"At least you have some brains." Anko said to Samui. "Listen, frankly I don't care what you're here for. Helping the Raikage out, your own hidden agenda, quite frankly not my business but I have to follow the orders that I'm given. But there are some things I want to discuss once the second exam is over." She said eyeing Ichigo.

"It's fine." Ichigo said placing a hand on Tayuya's shoulder. "We can meet up some place, just let us know where and when." Anko nodded before turning to the Chunnin.

"Give them both a Heaven and Earth scroll." The Chunnin nodded and pulled out one blue and one white scroll and handed them to Ichigo who tucked them away in his jacket. He glanced at Anko before he sighed.

"Sorry about this Anko-senpai, didn't want to cause you a contradiction with your orders but there is something we have to do. Having both scrolls isn't going to stop that." Anko frowned and watched as the three headed out of the small shack and sighed. She didn't doubt that the two of them would make blood rain in the forest among others that were hiding within the ranks of the Genin.

"I'm bored." Tayuya moaned face pressed up against the fence as she stared into the depths of the Forest of Death, they were waiting in a little cell for the gates to open. "Can we start yet?"

"Not yet Tayuya-chan." Samui told her leaning up against the fence with her eyes closed as Ichigo stood with a smile on his face as he stared dead ahead into the eyes of Anko who was standing with a look of boredom on her own face twirling a key on a string around her finger. Glancing down to her watch Anko sighed as she looked back up at Ichigo who was still looking at her.

"Got something to say?" Anko questioned.

"Not really." Ichigo told her. "You?" Anko shook her head no, this wasn't the time to be asking questions about her past. She was now sure that Ichigo and Tayuya knew something about her, even held some kind of respect for her. She found it odd, having been shunned by the majority of the village simply for being Orochimaru's student, for not giving anything to the village on his whereabouts when she herself could barely remember anything, it was odd to feel respected. Glancing down at her watch again she cleared her throat.

"Alright it's just about time." Anko said continuing to look at her watch. "BEGIN!" She shouted out however kept still not even turning to open the gate.

"Uh... the fuck?" Tayuya questioned wandering why the Jounin hadn't opened the gate.

"This is a penalty for your team, first is your rudeness towards your seniors, secondly those two seemingly having a conversation while I was explaining the rules to the other Genin and finally for him staring at my ass." Anko said a grin forming on her face.

"Ichigo you idiot!" Tayuya growled. _"The one time he looks at a female as a member of the opposite sex and it's not even me!?"_ She was clearly pissed.

"Totally worth it." Ichigo grinned before sitting down on the ground crossing his legs as he did so before slamming his hand onto the ground. "Summoning jutsu." A puff of smoke filled the small gate area making Anko raise an eyebrow before seeing Ichigo sitting before a large spotted hyena.

"Ichigo-sama." Kizzy bowed slightly.

"Kizzy." Ichigo grinned at the pup he and Tayuya had raised. "You guys ready?"

"Born ready Ichigo-sama, the others have been excited about this day. Some even believe that it'll go down in history as one of the best hunts of the hyena clans to date."

"Well I hope I don't disappoint Kizzy." Ichigo told him thumping the hyena heartedly in the side making it let out a renown hyena laugh, it's tail thumping against the ground.

"So how long is the penalty Proctor-san?" Samui questioned.

"I'll give the others twenty minute head start, then you're free to do as you wish." Anko told them. "Until then you're stuck here, make a move and I'll disqualify you."

"You're a real bitch you know that." Tayuya glared.

"Hey, maybe you could learn a thing from her Tayuya." Ichigo grinned making Tayuya scowl.

"Kizzy get him!" Samui had to smile as Kizzy tackled Ichigo to the ground before attempting to lick the teens face as Ichigo tried to fend the hyena off laughing all the while, the three really got along like a true family. She just hoped that it would last, she enjoyed every moment she spent with both Ichigo and Tayuya, getting to know them, finding out their quirks and how they acted childish at times such as the present. She often wondered what would happen after they had taken the Land of Snow.

She wished that they would remain friends, they had formed a bond over the months that they had trained and teamed up together. She didn't want that bond to disappear.


End file.
